• Length: 117 Miles
• Surface Area: 14,360 Acres
• Volume: 274,333 Acre Feet
• Drainage Area: 275 Square Miles
• Average Depth: 17 Feet
Sardis Lake is a reservoir in Pushmataha County and Latimer County in Oklahoma, US. The dam impounding the lake is located approximately 3 miles north of Clayton. The lake covers 14,360 acres with 117 miles of shoreline. The lake is an impoundment of Jackfork Creek, a tributary of the Kiamichi River.
The lake's normal pool elevation is 599 feet above sea level. Its storage capacity is 274,330 acre feet. At flood stage its elevation is 607 feet above sea level and its capacity rises to 396,900 acre feet.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, led by Donald Mahaffey, constructed the dam and lake between 1977 and 1982 under a contract with the state of Oklahoma for the purpose of selling water to municipalities and industrial customers in Oklahoma. Oklahoma agreed to make 50 annual payments and to pay the costs of operating the dam and lake. However, the state was unable to sell the water it needed to recover its costs, so the state discontinued payments to the federal government in 1997. The federal government sued the state for breach of contract and recovery of funds. The case wound its way through the courts and eventually Oklahoma lost the case when the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.