Montgomery County Lake Quality
North Carolina, 3 lakes, average grade D (Nutrient-rich)
Montgomery County has 3 monitored lakes — a thin enough sample that one or two stressed lakes can move the county average noticeably. Use the per-lake pages below for what actually matters. Every one of those lakes carries an A–F grade, so the county-level summary covers the full set rather than a monitored subset. The county-wide average grade is D — water quality issues are persistent across most of the monitored basins. 0 lakes fall into the F bracket outright.
Most of the county's monitored lakes are shallow — under 50 feet — which means wind keeps the water column mixed all summer and sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the surface layer whenever the bottom is disturbed. Falls Lake (C) is the cleanest in the county.
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Quick Answers for Montgomery County
Planning a trip? Check special fishing regulations for Falls Lake — or check the official North Carolina fishing regulations.
All Lakes in Montgomery County
3 lakes3 graded lakes
| # | Lake | Grade | Clarity | Phosphorus | Algae | Trophic | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CFalls LakeMontgomery | C | No recent samples | 20 µg/L | 7.3 µg/L | No recent samples | ✓ Public |
| 2 | DLake TilleryMontgomery | D | No recent samples | 30 µg/L | 15 µg/L | No recent samples | ✓ Public |
| 3 | DBadin LakeMontgomery | D | No recent samples | 30 µg/L | 20 µg/L | No recent samples | ✓ Public |
Lake Match
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Other Counties in North Carolina
See how Montgomery County stacks up in the national county water-quality rankings, or browse the full directory of graded lakes across all United States (49 states), Canada (Ontario and Québec), and 38 other country hubs..
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.