It is tricky to pinpoint the precise number of Lakes in Alberta officially.
We used the Lake Water Quality data from Alberta Environment and Parks using the following criteria:
- We included Lakes and Reservoirs
- We included unnamed Lakes
- Lakes with multiple water quality entries from the same lake name, we only counted it once
How many lakes are in Alberta?
There are more than 500 lakes in Alberta. This includes reservoirs and many unnamed lakes.
There are 11 Lakes in Alberta that have an area over 100 Square KMs.
List of Alberta Lakes
It would be a painfully long list of Alberta Lakes. Visit the Alberta Water Quality Data tool here. This is the source of our data.
What is the Largest Lake in Alberta?
The largest lake in Alberta is Lake Athabasca (7850 Square KMs). Interestingly, Lake Athabasca is also the largest lake in Saskatchewan as well. It is shared by both provinces as it is located over the Alberta and Saskatchewan border.
The largest lake that is entirely in Alberta is actually Lake Claire (1436 Square KMs).
What are the 3 Biggest Lakes in Alberta?
The 3 biggest Lakes in Alberta by area are:
- Lake Athabasca (7850 Square KMs)
- Lake Claire (1436 Square KMs)
- Lesser Slave Lake (1160 Square KMs)
If you don’t count Lake Athabasca, and only count Lakes that are entirely inside the Province of Alberta, the 3rd largest lake in Alberta would be Bistcho Lake (426 Square KMs).
What is the Deepest Lake in Alberta?
The deepest lake in Alberta is Lake Athabasca that has a maximum depth of 410 Feet.
In Summary
- According to the Government of Alberta Water Quality tracking data: We counted 503 Lakes listed.
- We assume the Alberta government is tracking water quality of most, or all significant bodies of water, but we can’t tell the exact number.
- The largest and deepest Alberta lake is Lake Athabasca, which is also the largest lake in Saskatchewan
