What are hypereutrophic lakes in North Carolina?

43 hypereutrophic lakes in North Carolina. Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity.

What does hypereutrophic mean?

Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity.

Hypereutrophic Lakes in North Carolina

Hypereutrophic lakes (TSI above 70) are at the upper end of the productivity scale: visible algal blooms most weeks of summer, clarity often under 3 feet, and meaningful risk of harmful-algal-bloom toxin events. 43 hypereutrophic lakes are on the North Carolina books. Almost none of them are deep — 0% break 50 feet. Shallow basin plus heavy nutrient input is the consistent recipe.

Hypereutrophic lakes carry the highest phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings on record; the trophic class and the readings are measuring closely related dimensions of the same underlying nutrient regime.

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	University Lake	Orange	2.3 ft	-	62
2	B E Jordan Lake	Chatham	2.6 ft	-	62
3	Little River Reservoir	Durham	3.1 ft	-	62
4	Jordan Lake	Chatham	2.2 ft	-	65
5	Lake Michie	Durham	2.6 ft	-	63
6	Buckhorn Dam Lake	Chatham	2.3 ft	-	67
7	Sandy Creek Reservoir	Randolph	2.5 ft	-	66
8	Harris Lake	Wake	2.5 ft	-	67
9	Glenville Lake	Cumberland	3.1 ft	-	62
10	Falls of the Neuse Reservoir	Wake	2.2 ft	-	63
11	Limestone Lake	Duplin	2.3 ft	-	66
12	Turner Reservoir	Chatham	1.6 ft	-	69
13	Graham-Mebane Reservoir	Alamance	2.3 ft	-	62
14	Rocky River Reservoir	Chatham	1.9 ft	-	67
15	Lake Roxboro	Caswell	3 ft	-	60
16	Lake Wheeler	Wake	2.8 ft	-	63
17	Lake Crabtree	Wake	1.1 ft	-	70
18	Buckhorn Reservoir	Wilson	2.3 ft	-	63
19	Lake Wilson	Wilson	2.1 ft	-	68
20	Lake Rogers	Granville	1.4 ft	-	71
21	Sycamore Lake	Wake	2 ft	-	64
22	Lake Orange	Orange	2.9 ft	-	63
23	Apex Reservoir	Wake	1.8 ft	-	65
24	Big Lake	Wake	2.3 ft	-	64
25	Bass Lake	Wake	2.5 ft	-	63
26	Beaverdam Lake	Wake	2.5 ft	-	63
27	Lake Benson	Wake	2.3 ft	-	64
28	Reedy Creek Lake	Wake	2 ft	-	65
29	Sunset Lake	Wake	1.8 ft	-	70
30	Town Creek Lake	Rowan	-	-	64
31	Robeson Creek Lake	Chatham	-	-	64
32	Lake Thom-A-Lex	Davidson	-	-	64
33	Lake Lee	Union	-	-	78
34	High Rock Lake	Davidson	-	-	64
35	Lake Monroe	Union	-	-	72
36	Lake Twitty	Union	-	-	68
37	Lake Mattamuskeet	Hyde	-	-	69
38	Coddle Creek Reservoir	Cabarrus	-	-	59
39	Lake Reese	Randolph	-	-	61
40	Lake Tabor	Columbus	-	-	70
41	Lake Hampton	Yadkin	-	-	59
42	Lake Hampton Upper End	Yadkin	-	-	59
43	Tar River Reservoir	Nash	-	-	65

All hypereutrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Iowa version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York version →Missouri version →Indiana version →North Dakota version →South Dakota version →Florida version →Colorado version →Vermont version →Texas version →Oregon version →Arkansas version →Oklahoma version →Kansas version →Nebraska version →Nevada version →Arizona version →Idaho version →Montana version →New Mexico version →Tennessee version →Alabama version →Virginia version →Kentucky version →Utah version →Washington version →Wyoming version →Georgia version →Massachusetts version →Ontario version →Québec version →Nova Scotia version →British Columbia version →Newfoundland and Labrador version →All North Carolina lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.