Largest lakes & reservoirs in by water volume
The estimated volume of water that a lake contains is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. By this measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Siberia’s Lake Baikal.Water Volume can be measured in acre-feet, in cubic miles, or in cubic kilometers. One acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot. One cubic mile equals 3,379,200 acre-feet. One cubic kilometer equals 810,713 acre-feet. 1 acre-foot is equal to 325,851 US gallons. Siberia’s Lake Baikal contains about 6,276,367,740,000,000 gallons of freshwater – nearly 1 million gallons for every living person on earth.
The other – and more widely used – measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s surface acreage. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is North America’s Lake Superior.
Note: In the United States, an acre foot is a unit of volume used to refer to large-scale bodies of water. It is defined by the volume of water needed to cover 1 acre of surface area to a depth of 1 foot.
You can find many of the the world’s largest lakes (by water volume) on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, the water volume data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 2151 articles we have published for lakes.
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Below are lakes within Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in , only the 2151 lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Cobb Lake, OK (Great Plains Country, OK, Oklahoma, US Southwest Region, USA) |
75,021 ac-ft | (Also known as Fort Cobb Reservoir) Fort Cobb Lake is in the beautiful Great Plains Country region of southwestern Oklahoma surrounded by plains, prairies and hills. The Great Plains, si … |
| Lake Wawasee, IN (Indiana, North Indiana, US Midwest Region, USA) |
75,020 ac-ft | Among the gently rolling hills of Amish country you will find Lake Wawasee, Indiana’s largest natural lake. Whether you come for the scenery or recrea … |
| Lake Hefner, OK (Frontier Country, OK, Oklahoma, US Southwest Region, USA) |
75,000 ac-ft | The Hefner Dam was completed in 1947, creating a lake with a surface area of 2,500 acres and an 18 mile long shoreline. Located in northwest Oklahoma … |
| Hyco Lake, NC (North Carolina, Piedmont Region, NC, US South Region, USA) |
75,000 ac-ft | Hyco Lake is a man-made reservoir located in northern North Carolina near the Virginia state line in the Roanoke River Basin. In the early 1960s, the … |
| Merritt Reservoir, NE (Nebraska, Sandhills Region, NE, US Midwest Region, USA) |
74,486 ac-ft | Deep in the heart of the Midwest, in the Sandhills region of Nebraska, lies the 2,906-acre Merritt Reservoir. This secluded lake is a paradise for tho … |
| Lake Eucha, OK (Green Country, OK, Oklahoma, US Southwest Region, USA) |
74,237 ac-ft | Lake Eucha is a 2,860-acre reservoir with 48 miles of shoreline located in Delaware County of northeastern Oklahoma. This tourism region is called “Gr … |
| Echo Reservoir, UT (Mountainland Region, UT, US West Region, USA, Utah) |
73,940 ac-ft | Echo Reservoir sits almost smack in the middle of the countryside between Salt Lake City and the Utah/Wyoming border. It’s hard to miss, as Interstate … |
| Saylorville Lake, IA (Central Iowa, Iowa, US Midwest Region, USA) |
73,659 ac-ft | (Also known as Saylorville Reservoir) Saylorville Lake is a man-made reservoir located on the Des Moines River bordering the town of Polk City, about 11 miles north of Des Moines, Iowa. Th … |
| Big Bear Lake, CA (California, Inland Empire Region, CA, US West Region, USA) |
73,370 ac-ft | Located just 100 miles from Los Angeles but wrapped in an entirely different environment, Big Bear Lake is both convenient and escapist. Surrounded by … |
| Long Pond, ME (Kennebec & Moose River Valleys Region, ME, Maine, US New England Region, USA) |
73,165 ac-ft | (Also known as Belgrade Lakes) Only in stoic northern New England would Long Pond be called a pond instead of a lake. The 2557-acre lake, in Maine’s Kennebec and Moose River Valleys … |
| Silverwood Lake, CA (California, Inland Empire Region, CA, US West Region, USA) |
73,000 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Silverwood) Rimmed with live oak, manzanita, and mountain mahogany and set against the backdrop of the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains, Silverwood Lake is an … |
| Loch Raven Reservoir, MD (Central Maryland, Maryland, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
72,721 ac-ft | The Loch Raven Reservoir is located just a few miles north of Baltimore. Unspoiled and surrounded by forests and hiking trails, it has long provided M … |