Clearwater Lake is a roughly 1,800-acre reservoir on the Black River near Piedmont in Wayne and Reynolds counties in southeast Missouri. It was created in 1948 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed Clearwater Dam as part of a broader flood-control plan for the White and lower Mississippi River basins. The project is operated primarily for flood risk reduction, with recreation and fish and wildlife habitat as important secondary benefits.

At conservation pool the lake has about 34 miles of largely undeveloped, wooded shoreline and averages near 15 feet deep, with deeper water in the old Black River channel near the dam. Because private docks are not allowed, boaters can go ashore on much of the public shoreline, and the upper Black River arms stay shallow and scenic. During major floods the pool can expand many times its normal size as the Corps stores runoff.

Clearwater is a quieter Ozark fishing and camping lake known for crappie, catfish, and bass, with fisheries managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Corps parks, campgrounds, and boat ramps provide public access, and the absence of shoreline development gives the reservoir a wilderness feel uncommon on larger Missouri lakes.

Water levels on Clearwater Lake are managed by the Corps of Engineers under a seasonal conservation pool, typically near 498 feet above mean sea level (NGVD29) in summer and about 494 feet in winter, with the top of the flood-control pool at 567 feet. Elevations can rise quickly after heavy Black River rainfall, so monitoring current lake levels is important for boating safety, fishing, and shoreline access.

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