Impaired Lakes in Tennessee
22 of 67 graded Tennessee lakes (33%) are officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. 7 have an approved TMDL restoration plan.
Top Causes of Impairment in Tennessee
Reading the Tennessee impairment landscape
Tennessee reports 22 impaired lakes — 33% of the state's 67 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.
PCBs leads the impairment causes in Tennessee — 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 Tennessee submission to the EPA Assessment, Total Maximum Daily Load Tracking and Implementation System (ATTAINS) dataset.
All 22 EPA-Listed Impaired Lakes in Tennessee
| Lake | County | Grade | Causes | TMDL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiwassee River Lake | Bradley | C | Mercury | — |
| Calderwood Lake | Blount | C | Hydrologic alteration | — |
| Emory River Lake | Roane | C | Mercury, Pesticides, PCBs | ✓ |
| Tennessee River Lake | Marion | D | Dioxins, PCBs | ✓ |
| Clinch River Lake | Roane | D | Mercury, Pesticides, PCBs | ✓ |
| Cumberland River Lake | Davidson | D | Pathogens (E. coli, fecal), PCBs | ✓ |
| Reelfoot Lake Blue Basin | Lake | D | Hydrologic alteration, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) +1 more | — |
| Mckellar Lake | Shelby | D | Dioxins, Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) +5 more | — |
| Reelfoot Lake Upper Blue Basin | Obion | D | Nuisance native species, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) +1 more | — |
| Reelfoot Lake-Reelfoot Creek Embayment | Obion | D | Nuisance native species, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO) +1 more | — |
| Holston River Lake | Hawkins | D | Mercury | — |
| Ocoee River Lake | Polk | NR | Metals (other than mercury), PCBs, Sediment / turbidity | — |
| Tellico Lake | Monroe | NR | PCBs | — |
| Parksville Reservoir | Polk | NR | Metals (other than mercury), PCBs, Sediment / turbidity | — |
| Beech River Lake | Henderson | NR | Mercury | — |
| Metrocenter Lake | Davidson | NR | Pathogens (E. coli, fecal), PCBs | ✓ |
| North Mouse Creek Lake | McMinn | NR | Mercury, Pathogens (E. coli, fecal) | ✓ |
| Mckellar Lake Habor Channel | Shelby | NR | Dioxins, Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) +5 more | — |
| Cypress Creek South Lake | Shelby | NR | Dioxins, Mercury, Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) +5 more | — |
| South Fork Holston River Lake | Sullivan | NR | Mercury | — |
| Portland Lake | Sumner | NR | Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), Oxygen depletion (low DO), Sediment / turbidity +1 more | — |
| Meads Quarry Lake | Knox | NR | Mercury, PCBs | ✓ |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many lakes are impaired in Tennessee?
22 of 67 graded Tennessee lakes (33%) are listed as impaired in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. Of those, 21 are on the federal Clean Water Act §303(d) list and 7 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 Tennessee?
The most common causes flagged across Tennessee's impaired lakes are: PCBs (12 lakes); Mercury (11 lakes); Sediment / turbidity (9 lakes); Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen) (7 lakes); Oxygen depletion (low DO) (7 lakes); Pathogens (E. coli, fecal) (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 .