Updated Aug 2026
North Carolina Lake Water Quality
Water quality grades for 148 of the 395 lakes we list here, across 83 counties.
Grade Distribution
All 395 North Carolina lakes in the index: 148 (37.5%) carry an A–F grade and 247 (62.5%) are not rated, because they lack enough recent nutrient or algae sampling to support a letter.
Top-Graded North Carolina Lakes
The highest water-quality grades in North Carolina — clarity, depth, and A-F grade at a glance.
Lake Map
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Explore North Carolina Lakes
North Carolina reports, fishing & travel
Reservoirs in North Carolina
View all 107 reservoirs →107 of 395 North Carolina lakes (27%) are man-made reservoirs in the USACE National Inventory of Dams. 95 carry a High or Significant hazard rating. The oldest matched dam dates to 1800.
EPA-Impaired Lakes in North Carolina
View all 54 impaired lakes →54 of 395 North Carolina lakes (14%) are officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. 41 have an approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) restoration plan.
North Carolina Fishing & Recreation
Licenses, regulations, records, and where to fish across North Carolina.
Counties
All 83 North Carolina counties, ranked by average lake water quality. Compare them against every county nationwide in the county rankings, browse the full directory of graded lakes, or pick a different state.
Top 25 Cleanest Lakes
25 lakes25 graded lakes
| # | Lake | County | Grade | Clarity | Trophic | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASutton Lake | New Hanover | A | 10 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 2 | ACenter of Sutton Lake | New Hanover | A | 6.7 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 3 | ALake Waccamaw | Columbus | A | No recent samples | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 4 | ARockingham City Lake | Richmond | A | No recent samples | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 5 | ALake Julian | Buncombe | A | No recent samples | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 6 | AWater Lake | Richmond | A | No recent samples | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 7 | ABurnett Reservoir | Buncombe | A | No recent samples | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 8 | BBay Tree Lake | Bladen | B | 2.4 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 9 | BWhite Lake | Bladen | B | 3.9 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 10 | BSalters Lake | Bladen | B | 1.7 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 11 | BHope Mills Lake | Cumberland | B | 3.3 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 12 | BOld Town Reservoir | Moore | B | 6.9 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 13 | BJones Lake | Bladen | B | 2.1 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 14 | BGreat Lake | Craven | B | 0.7 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 15 | BCatfish Lake | Craven | B | 1.8 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 16 | BMerchants Millpond | Gates | B | 1.6 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 17 | BPages Lake | Moore | B | No recent samples | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 18 | BHamlet City Lake | Richmond | B | No recent samples | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 19 | CCatawba Riv Lake | Mecklenburg | C | 6.6 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 20 | CBuckeye Lake | Watauga | C | 7.5 ft | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 21 | CSingletary Lake | Bladen | C | 1.9 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 22 | CAsu Lake | Watauga | C | 12.3 ft | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 23 | CGreenfield Lake | New Hanover | C | 4.7 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 24 | CCarthage City Lake | Moore | C | 4.9 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 25 | CLake Cheoah | Graham | C | 14.6 ft | Oligotrophic | Not recorded |
25 Lakes Needing Attention
25 lakes25 graded lakes
| # | Lake | County | Grade | Clarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FTar River Reservoir | Nash | F | No recent samples |
| 2 | FLake Hampton Upper End | Yadkin | F | No recent samples |
| 3 | FLake Hampton | Yadkin | F | No recent samples |
| 4 | FLake Tabor | Columbus | F | No recent samples |
| 5 | FLake Reese | Randolph | F | No recent samples |
| 6 | FCoddle Creek Reservoir | Cabarrus | F | No recent samples |
| 7 | FLake Mattamuskeet | Hyde | F | No recent samples |
| 8 | FLake Twitty | Union | F | No recent samples |
| 9 | FLake Monroe | Union | F | No recent samples |
| 10 | FHigh Rock Lake | Davidson | F | No recent samples |
| 11 | FLake Lee | Union | F | No recent samples |
| 12 | FLake Thom-A-Lex | Davidson | F | No recent samples |
| 13 | FRobeson Creek Lake | Chatham | F | No recent samples |
| 14 | FTown Creek Lake | Rowan | F | No recent samples |
| 15 | FSunset Lake | Wake | F | 1.8 ft |
| 16 | FReedy Creek Lake | Wake | F | 2 ft |
| 17 | FLake Benson | Wake | F | 2.3 ft |
| 18 | FBeaverdam Lake | Wake | F | 2.5 ft |
| 19 | FBass Lake | Wake | F | 2.5 ft |
| 20 | FBig Lake | Wake | F | 2.3 ft |
| 21 | FApex Reservoir | Wake | F | 1.8 ft |
| 22 | FLake Orange | Orange | F | 2.9 ft |
| 23 | FSycamore Lake | Wake | F | 2 ft |
| 24 | FLake Rogers | Granville | F | 1.4 ft |
| 25 | FLake Wilson | Wilson | F | 2.1 ft |
148 of the 395 North Carolina lakes in this index carry an A–F water-quality grade, spread over 83 counties. Those grades rest on measurements from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, alongside federal programs and volunteer monitoring networks. The rest are listed for their size, depth and location, without enough recent nutrient or algae sampling behind them to support a letter. Only about 5% of North Carolina's graded lakes pull an A. The smaller, agricultural-watershed lakes that dominate the graded set tend to carry persistent nutrient loads, and 58% of them fall in the D or F brackets.
By surface area the largest lake here is Lake Mattamuskeet, at about 26,110 acres, and 63 of the lakes in this index cover more than 500 acres. Size is worth knowing before you go: a large deep basin buffers nutrient inputs by sheer volume, while a shallow one warms quickly and can turn over its whole water column in a single summer storm. Eutrophic conditions dominate the graded set: nutrient-loaded, productive, with algal pressure that shows up most years in late summer. These lakes tend to be shallow, in agricultural watersheds, and over-warmed by the time July ends. The cleanest county on average is New Hanover (grade B); the most-stressed is Durham. The gap between the top and bottom counties is large enough that a single figure for North Carolina lake water quality hides real local variation.
Lake Match
Which lake suits how you actually use one?
Six questions — swimming, fishing, quiet, cabins, drive time — and a shortlist of graded lakes that fit, with the water quality behind each one.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys and the EPA Water Quality Portal.
More on lake water quality
A data snapshot of the lakes we grade: how the A–F distribution breaks down, the clearest and the greenest states, and where the water is improving.
How lakes are graded A–F on nutrients and algae using EPA ecoregion condition classes, what each letter means in the water, and why an A is not a clearance.
The cleanest and dirtiest U.S. lakes in the monitoring record, ranked on EPA nutrient and algae condition classes across thousands of graded lakes.
The clearest lakes in America, ranked by measured Secchi depth in feet from EPA monitoring data — and why the famously clear lakes are missing.