Impaired Lakes in Michigan
85 of 592 measured Michigan lakes (14%) are officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. 69 have an approved TMDL restoration plan.
Top Causes of Impairment in Michigan
Reading the Michigan impairment landscape
85 of Michigan's 592 tracked lakes carry impaired-waters listings — 14%. That's a meaningful minority worth checking before specific trips, particularly for swimming, fishing, or drinking-water source identification. Most Michigan lakes are unimpaired; the impaired set tends to concentrate in agricultural, post-industrial, or high-development watersheds rather than being randomly distributed.
Mercury leads the impairment causes in Michigan — a contaminant category that is most relevant for fish consumption rather than for swimming or boating. Mercury and PCB impairments typically come from atmospheric deposition or legacy industrial discharge; they bioaccumulate up the food chain, so larger and longer-lived fish carry the highest tissue concentrations. Check the state's fish-consumption advisory before keeping a catch from these waters.
Impaired-waters listings come from the state environmental agency's §303(d) submission to EPA, refreshed on a roughly 2-year cycle. A listed lake stays on the list until either a TMDL is established and the cleanup completes, or subsequent monitoring shows the pollutant concentrations no longer exceed water-quality standards. The list below reflects the most recent available Michigan submission to the EPA Assessment, Total Maximum Daily Load Tracking and Implementation System (ATTAINS) dataset.
All 85 EPA-Listed Impaired Lakes in Michigan
| Lake | County | Causes | TMDL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margrethe Lake | Crawford | Mercury, PFAS | ✓ |
| Crooked Lake | Emmet | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Grand Sable Lake | Alger | Mercury | ✓ |
| Whitewood Lake | Livingston | Mercury, Pesticides, PFAS +1 more | ✓ |
| Siskiwit Lake | Keweenaw | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Walloon Lake | Emmet | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Flint Park Lake | Genesee | PFAS | — |
| Lake Charlevoix | Charlevoix | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Crockery Lake | Ottawa | Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) | ✓ |
| Beaver Lake | Alpena | Mercury | ✓ |
| Torch Lake | Antrim | Dioxins, Mercury, Pesticides +1 more | ✓ |
| Bristol Lake | Barry | Mercury | ✓ |
| Lake Bellaire | Antrim | Mercury | ✓ |
| Lake Ann | Benzie | Mercury, Oxygen depletion (low DO) | ✓ |
| Hanbury Lake | Dickinson | Mercury | ✓ |
| Chippewa Lake | Mecosta | Mercury | ✓ |
| Gull Lake | Kalamazoo | Mercury, PFAS, PCBs | ✓ |
| Avery Lake | Montmorency | Mercury | ✓ |
| Hamilton Lake | Dickinson | Mercury | ✓ |
| Stony Lake | Oceana | Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Lake Gogebic | Gogebic | Mercury | ✓ |
| Lakeville Lake | Oakland | Mercury | ✓ |
| Middle Straits Lake | Oakland | Mercury | ✓ |
| Base Line Lake | Washtenaw | Mercury, Pesticides, PFAS | ✓ |
| Clark Lake | Jackson | Mercury | ✓ |
| Lake Fenton | Genesee | Mercury | ✓ |
| Emerald Lake | Newaygo | Mercury | ✓ |
| Sanford Lake | Midland | Dioxins, Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Earl Lake | Livingston | PFAS, PCBs, Salinity / chlorides | ✓ |
| Eagle Lake | Cass | Mercury | ✓ |
| Platte Lake | Benzie | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Bruin Lake | Washtenaw | PFAS | — |
| Cedar Lake | Alcona | PFAS | — |
| Duck Lake | Gogebic | Mercury | ✓ |
| Lake Chemung | Livingston | Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Lake Orion | Oakland | Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) +2 more | — |
| Lake Margrethe | Crawford | Mercury, PFAS | ✓ |
| White Lake | Muskegon | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Stager Lake | Iron | Mercury | ✓ |
| Hamlin Lake | Mason | Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) | ✓ |
| Klinger Lake | St. Joseph | Mercury | ✓ |
| Higgins Lake | Roscommon | Mercury, Pesticides, PFAS +1 more | ✓ |
| Nepessing Lake | Lapeer | Mercury | ✓ |
| Deer Lake | Alger | Mercury | — |
| Thousand Island Lake | Gogebic | Mercury | ✓ |
| Barton Lake | Kalamazoo | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Painter Lake | Cass | Mercury | ✓ |
| Cedar Lake | Iosco | PFAS | — |
| Maceday Lake | Oakland | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Sylvan Lake | Newaygo | Mercury | ✓ |
| Fremont Lake | Newaygo | Mercury, Oxygen depletion (low DO), PCBs | ✓ |
| Crystal Lake | Benzie | Dioxins, Mercury, Pesticides +1 more | ✓ |
| Lake Independence | Marquette | Mercury | ✓ |
| Lake Ovid | Clinton | Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) | ✓ |
| Langford Lake | Gogebic | Mercury | — |
| Marion Lake | Gogebic | Mercury | ✓ |
| Portage Lake | Jackson | Mercury | ✓ |
| Cass Lake | Oakland | Mercury, PFAS, PCBs | ✓ |
| Aginaw Lake | Shiawassee | Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Middle Lake | Lapeer | Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Lake Macatawa | Ottawa | Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), PFAS +1 more | ✓ |
| Kalamazoo Lake | Allegan | PCBs | — |
| Sand Lake | Lenawee | Mercury | ✓ |
| Long Lake | Cass | Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Whitmore Lake | Livingston | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Pickerel Lake | Newaygo | Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Green Lake | Grand Traverse | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Lily Lake | Clare | Mercury | ✓ |
| Kimball Lake | Newaygo | Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) | — |
| Union Lake | Branch | Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), PCBs | ✓ |
| Thread Lake | Genesee | Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), PCBs | ✓ |
| Flint Park Lake | Genesee | PFAS | — |
| Cable Lake | Iron | Mercury, PFAS | ✓ |
| Muskegon Lake | Muskegon | Mercury, Pesticides, PFAS +1 more | ✓ |
| Shag Lake | Marquette | Mercury | ✓ |
| Burt Lake | Cheboygan | Mercury | ✓ |
| Deer Lake | Charlevoix | Mercury | ✓ |
| Portage Lake | Manistee | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Mullett Lake | Cheboygan | Mercury | ✓ |
| Thumb Lake | Charlevoix | Mercury | ✓ |
| Pickerel Lake | Emmet | Mercury | ✓ |
| Elk Lake | Antrim | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
| Lake Mitchell | Wexford | Mercury | ✓ |
| Douglas Lake | Cheboygan | Mercury | ✓ |
| Second Sister Lake | Washtenaw | Mercury | ✓ |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many lakes are impaired in Michigan?
85 of 592 measured Michigan lakes (14%) are listed as impaired in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. Of those, 45 are on the federal Clean Water Act §303(d) list and 69 have an approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) restoration plan.
What does Clean Water Act §303(d) mean?
Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act requires every state to identify waters that don't meet water quality standards even after pollution control measures. Each listed water must then have a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developed — a plan that caps how much of each pollutant can enter the waterbody. The "303(d) list" is the impaired-waters list. The EPA reviews each state's list every two years.
What are the top causes of impairment in Michigan?
The most common causes flagged across Michigan's impaired lakes are: Mercury (69 lakes); PCBs (27 lakes); PFAS (16 lakes); Oxygen depletion (low DO) (12 lakes); Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) (10 lakes); Pesticides (7 lakes). Mercury is widespread in fish tissue across the upper Midwest from atmospheric deposition. Nutrient impairment (phosphorus, nitrogen) typically reflects agricultural runoff and urban stormwater.
Can I swim in an impaired lake?
It depends on the cause of impairment. A lake impaired for "mercury in fish tissue" is generally safe to swim in — the warning is about long-term consumption of fish. A lake impaired for "pathogens" (E. coli) or "algal growth" may pose a swimming risk and often has a separate beach advisory. Check the cause categories listed for each lake below, and consult your state health department's beach monitoring program for current advisories.
Where does this impairment data come from?
Every impairment record on this page comes from the EPA's ATTAINS (Assessment and TMDL Tracking and Implementation System) public dataset, the federal repository of state-reported water quality assessments. EPA ATTAINS is published as GeoParquet files on the EPA Office of Water S3 bucket and refreshed several times per year. Causes and use-support codes follow EPA's standard taxonomy.
More on impaired waters
What it means when a lake is listed as impaired, why mercury is the most common reason, and why a listed lake can still be clear water with favourable readings.
Why states issue fish-consumption advisories, which contaminants — mercury, PCBs, PFAS — drive them, and how to eat the fish you catch more safely.
How phosphorus and nutrient runoff drive algae growth and turn lakes green, where the nutrients come from, and what it means for a lake’s readings.
Which lakes are actually improving: multi-year EPA monitoring trends, the named recoveries still in progress, and what it takes to move the readings.
Data source
Impairment data from the EPA ATTAINS (Assessment and TMDL Tracking and Implementation System) public dataset. Assessment unit IDs are matched to LakeQuality lakes by name and proximity; some lakes may not appear here if their ATTAINS name doesn't match our naming convention. For an official query, consult Michigan's state water-quality agency.