The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—Louisville District conducted a pilot study on the use of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for a survey of water conditions during August 2016 in a portion of Nolin Lake, Kentucky. The AUV was equipped with sensors for the continuous collection of water-quality measurements for dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, temperature, turbidity, total chlorophyll, and blue-green algae concentrations. The AUV continuously collected measurements of these water-quality parameters while traveling at varied depths in a set spatial pattern within a portion of the lake. In addition to the AUV survey, discrete nutrient- and algae-related samples were collected at various points in the study area of the lake, and along depth profiles. This digital dataset contains site information and the water-quality data from the AUV surveys, the discrete sampling, and the depth profiling.