Impaired Lakes in North Carolina
54 of 153 graded North Carolina lakes (35%) are officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. 41 have an approved TMDL restoration plan.
Top Causes of Impairment in North Carolina
Reading the North Carolina impairment landscape
North Carolina reports 54 impaired lakes — 35% of the state's 153 tracked water bodies. That share is high enough to make impairment a meaningful planning concern: roughly one in four lakes carries at least one §303(d) listing for a pollutant exceeding standards. The list below isn't a niche concern — it's a significant chunk of the state's surface-water inventory.
The leading impairment cause in North Carolina is Algal growth. Each impairment category carries its own use-restriction implications — some affect fish consumption, some affect swimming, some affect aquatic-life habitat. Click through to the specific lake records below for the pollutant list and the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) status, which determines whether a cleanup plan is in place.
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 North Carolina submission to the EPA Assessment, Total Maximum Daily Load Tracking and Implementation System (ATTAINS) dataset.
All 54 EPA-Listed Impaired Lakes in North Carolina
| Lake | County | Grade | Causes | TMDL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Julian | Buncombe | A | Temperature | ✓ |
| Jones Lake | Bladen | B | pH / acidity | ✓ |
| Catfish Lake | Craven | B | Turbidity | ✓ |
| Catawba Riv Lake | Mecklenburg | C | PCBs | ✓ |
| Singletary Lake | Bladen | C | pH / acidity | ✓ |
| Greenfield Lake | New Hanover | C | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Lake Sequoyah | Macon | C | Impaired biota (cause unknown) | ✓ |
| Lake Lure | Rutherford | C | Impaired biota (cause unknown) | ✓ |
| Falls Lake | Montgomery | C | PCBs | ✓ |
| Lake Rhodhiss | Caldwell | C | Impaired biota (cause unknown) | ✓ |
| Mountain Island Lake | Gaston | C | PCBs | ✓ |
| Lake Wylie | Gaston | C | Metals (other than mercury), PCBs, Turbidity | ✓ |
| B Everett Jordan Lake | Chatham | D | Algal growth, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), pH / acidity +1 more | ✓ |
| Catawba Creek Lake | Gaston | D | Impaired biota (cause unknown) | ✓ |
| S Fork Catawba Riv Lake | Gaston | D | Metals (other than mercury), PCBs, Turbidity | ✓ |
| Lake Burlington | Alamance | D | Algal growth | — |
| Kerr Scott Reservoir | Wilkes | D | Algal growth, pH / acidity, Temperature | — |
| Farmer Lake | Caswell | D | Turbidity | ✓ |
| Lake Butner | Granville | D | Impaired biota (cause unknown), Metals (other than mercury) | ✓ |
| Kings Mountain Reservoir | Cleveland | D | Temperature | — |
| Lake Johnson | Wake | D | PCBs | ✓ |
| Lake Raleigh | Wake | D | PCBs | ✓ |
| Back Creek Lake | Randolph | D | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Lake Tillery | Montgomery | D | PCBs | — |
| Badin Lake | Montgomery | D | PCBs | — |
| Bunch Lake | Randolph | D | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Lake Junaluska | Haywood | D | pH / acidity | ✓ |
| University Lake | Orange | F | Algal growth, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) | ✓ |
| B E Jordan Lake | Chatham | F | Algal growth, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) | ✓ |
| Little River Reservoir | Durham | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Jordan Lake | Chatham | F | Algal growth, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) | ✓ |
| Lake Michie | Durham | F | Oxygen depletion (low DO) | ✓ |
| Buckhorn Dam Lake | Chatham | F | Algal growth | — |
| Sandy Creek Reservoir | Randolph | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Falls of the Neuse Reservoir | Wake | F | Algal growth | — |
| Turner Reservoir | Chatham | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Graham-Mebane Reservoir | Alamance | F | Algal growth, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) | ✓ |
| Rocky River Reservoir | Chatham | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Lake Roxboro | Caswell | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Lake Rogers | Granville | F | Algal growth | — |
| Apex Reservoir | Wake | F | Impaired biota (cause unknown) | ✓ |
| Beaverdam Lake | Wake | F | Algal growth | — |
| Reedy Creek Lake | Wake | F | Impaired biota (cause unknown) | ✓ |
| Town Creek Lake | Rowan | F | Algal growth, Turbidity | ✓ |
| Robeson Creek Lake | Chatham | F | Algal growth, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Turbidity | ✓ |
| Lake Thom-A-Lex | Davidson | F | Algal growth | — |
| Lake Lee | Union | F | Algal growth, Oxygen depletion (low DO), Temperature | — |
| High Rock Lake | Davidson | F | Algal growth, pH / acidity | ✓ |
| Lake Monroe | Union | F | Algal growth, pH / acidity, Temperature | ✓ |
| Lake Twitty | Union | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Lake Mattamuskeet | Hyde | F | Algal growth, pH / acidity, Turbidity | ✓ |
| Coddle Creek Reservoir | Cabarrus | F | pH / acidity | — |
| Lake Reese | Randolph | F | Algal growth | ✓ |
| Falls Lake Bayleaf Church | Wake | NR | Algal growth | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many lakes are impaired in North Carolina?
54 of 153 graded North Carolina lakes (35%) are listed as impaired in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. Of those, 43 are on the federal Clean Water Act §303(d) list and 41 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 North Carolina?
The most common causes flagged across North Carolina's impaired lakes are: Algal growth (29 lakes); pH / acidity (9 lakes); PCBs (9 lakes); Turbidity (8 lakes); Impaired biota (cause unknown) (7 lakes); Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) (6 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 a good grade.
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 grade.
Which lakes are actually improving: multi-year EPA monitoring trends, the named recoveries still in progress, and what it takes to move a letter grade.
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 North Carolina's state water-quality agency.