Harveys Lake (also known as Harvey Lake or Harvey's Lake) is a natural lake in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It has a surface area of approximately 621.5 acres, or nearly a square mile. The lake is situated entirely within the borough of Harveys Lake. By volume, it is the largest natural lake in Pennsylvania, and by surface area, is the second-largest lake. It is a glacial lake surrounded by hills and is the source of Harveys Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River. The lake has a stone masonry dam. The lake's watershed has an area of approximately 3600 acres. The majority of the watershed is forested, but there is some developed land as well. Nearly all of the developed land is close to the lake itself, and the lake is surrounded entirely by a paved road.
Harveys Lake was affected by algae blooms from the mid-20th century onward, and these algae blooms were caused by pollution of nutrients, especially phosphorus. The lake was identified as impaired in 1994, with an annual phosphorus load of . However, the phosphorus load has been reduced somewhat since then. The lake is listed on the Luzerne County Natural Areas Inventory. A number of rare or endangered plant species have been observed in its vicinity. Various species of fish inhabit the lake and a number of bird species have been observed in its vicinity.
Harveys Lake was accidentally discovered by Benjamin Harvey in 1781. The first settlers arrived at the lake in the 1790s and 1800s. Early industries in the area included lumbering and farming, but it became well known as a summer resort in the latter part of the 1800s and into the 1900s. It was also used as a water supply in the early 1900s. However, the lake began to develop significant environmental problems in the 1960s and a total maximum daily load was created for it in 1994. Since 1968, the lake has been located in the borough of Harveys Lake.
Geography
Harveys Lake is the largest natural lake in Pennsylvania by volume and the second-largest by surface area. It has a surface area of 621.5 acres and an average depth of , as well as a maximum depth of . The lake's shoreline is long. By surface area, it was approximately twice its current size when it was first surveyed in the late 1700s.
Harveys Lake is situated in the borough of Harveys Lake, and it is northwest of the city of Wilkes-Barre.
Harveys Lake is of glacial origin. It is surrounded by steep hills on all sides. At their highest point, to the south of the lake, the hills reach above the lake's elevation. The lake has a gravel bottom.
The main outflow of Harveys Lake is Harveys Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River. The lake's major inflows include two unnamed streams with widths between and depths of . Springs also feed into it. The lake's elevation is above sea level. The lake is located in north-central Luzerne County, in the Lower North Branch Susquehanna drainage basin and the Upper Susquehanna - Lackawanna basin.
A 1921 book described the shape of Harveys Lake as "very irregular". The lake has a maximum length of and a maximum width of . It has a capacity of . Harveys Lake is dammed by a stone masonry dam with two spillways. The dam is long and high.
Harveys Lake was described as "one of the most beautiful" lakes in Pennsylvania in Henry C. Bradsby's 1893 book History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
Watershed
Harveys Lake is situated in the United States Geological Survey quadrangles of Harveys Lake and Noxen. The watershed of the lake has an area of . Most of the watershed is in Luzerne County, but its northeasternmost portion is in Wyoming County.
The vast majority () of the watershed of Harveys Lake is forested land. Developed land and farmland comprise and , respectively. Unpaved roads make up of the watershed. The majority of the developed land in the watershed is directly on the shoreline and nearly all is within of the lake. Most of the developed land is used for residential and commercial purposes. One developed area in the watershed is known as Hemlock Gardens, which occupies an area of and has 26 homes. The development had steep slopes (8 to 18 percent grade), unpaved roads, and no infrastructure for dealing with stormwater. However, a nutrient-separating baffle box and a water polishing unit were installed in the development, reducing the phosphorus load of Harveys Lake by an estimated per year.