• Length: 57 Miles
• Surface Area: 1,139 Acres
• Volume: 40,700 Acre Feet
• Drainage Area: 93 Square Miles
Paintsville Lake is a 1,139-acre reservoir in Johnson and Morgan counties in eastern Kentucky. It was impounded from Paint Creek in 1983 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is the major attraction of Paintsville Lake State Park.
Paintsville Lake officially opened to the public in 1983, three years before Paintsville Lake State Park was established.
On December 9, 1978, ten-thousand Johnson County residences had to be evacuated from the area below the construction site of the Paintsville Lake dam. This is because the area had recently received eight inches of rain, which had caused a leak in the coffer dam that was keeping the construction site of the actual dam dry. Luckily, the dam did not break and the residences were allowed to return to their homes the following day.