Vermont lake · state assessment record
Champ-Isle La Motte (20,962 acres)
Assessment decisions reported by Vermont to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2015 reporting cycle.
- 20,962
- Assessed acres
- Lake, Freshwater
- Water type
- Mesotrophic
- Reported trophic class
This waterbody in one line
Champ-Isle La Motte, a lake in Vermont, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with 3 listed impairment causes in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2015). By assessed acreage it sits among the largest 1% of assessed lakes nationally (38,628 lakes with a filed area); its impairment list is among the longest nationally (3 listed causes vs 23,610 assessed lakes). Aquatic life is assessed as fully supporting. Fish consumption is assessed as not supporting.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P100
- Assessed size nationally
- P5
- Shorter cause list
- Fully Supporting
- aquatic life
Assessment verdicts are the state agency's decisions as reported to EPA ATTAINS; PlainLakes renders them without modification.
A composite of this record's EPA ATTAINS designated-use verdicts, filed impairment count, and assessment currency, weighted and benchmarked against the national corpus of assessed active waterbodies. This is a water-quality standing, not a human-recreation or property-value judgment, and dimensions with no filed verdict drop out rather than count against the score.
Champ-Isle La Motte against the ATTAINS register
Paragraphs are selected by this unit's percentiles and use matrix: different lakes lead with different dimensions. Figures are ATTAINS / portal register arithmetic, not advice.
The signature stat: assessed size
The number that most separates Champ-Isle La Motte nationally is assessed size: 20,962 acres, larger than 100% of the 38,628 lake-type units with an area on file.
The uses disagree
This record splits: Not Supporting on fish consumption, recreation, Fully Supporting on aquatic life. The divergence is inside the designated-use matrix, not a single all-or-nothing label.
Longer than most cause lists
3 listed causes puts this unit above 90% of assessed lake-type records by list length. Treat that as a coding-and-sampling signal: states that split pollutants finely mint longer lists without proving worse water.
Champ-Isle La Motte: Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Champ-Isle La Motte. Read the listed causes and any cleanup actions filed beside them before treating the overall status tile as a finished restoration story.
Overall status: not supporting
The filer's overall status for Champ-Isle La Motte is Not Supporting. That tile summarizes the assessment unit; the designated-use rows and cause list are the evidence behind it.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ATTAINS program, Vermont carries 712 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to Champ-Isle La Motte without modification. See our methodology for reporting-unit limits and gauge linking rules.
The record
Designated-use assessments
Fully Supporting and Not Supporting are the state's definitive verdicts; other entries mean the use was not conclusively assessed in this cycle.
| Designated use | Group | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | Aquatic-life or related | Fully Supporting |
| Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life | Aquatic-life or related | Fully Supporting |
| Fish Consumption | Fish-consumption or fishery | Not Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses | Recreation | Fully Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Fishing and Related Recreational Uses | Recreation | Fully Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation | Recreation | Not Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions | Other | Not Supporting |
| The Use of the Water for Public Water Source | Drinking-water supply designation | Fully Supporting |
| The Use of Water for Irrigation of Crops and Other Agricultural Uses | Other | Not Assessed |
The record
Listed impairment causes
Causes the state listed as impairing designated uses of this lake, with the cycle each was first listed and the Clean Water Act action recorded against it.
| Cause | Affected uses | First listed | Cleanup standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCBs in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2006 | TMDL priority: Low |
| Phosphorus | The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions; The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation | 2006 | TMDL approved |
| Mercury in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2016 | TMDL approved |
Probable sources named by the state
Each source below is listed under the cause the state filed it against, and carries the word the state filed with it — confirmed, or suspected.
- PCBs in Fish Tissue
- Illegal Dumps or Other Inappropriate Waste Disposal (suspected)
- Mercury in Fish Tissue
- Atmospheric Deposition - Toxics (confirmed)
Reading the record
Where Champ-Isle La Motte sits among peers
22% of Vermont's lakes assessed this deeply also came out mixed
Vermont ruled definitively on 8 designated uses at Champ-Isle La Motte and found 3 of 8 not supported. The dataset shows 700 Vermont lakes judged to that same depth.
Vermont's assessed lakes are most often judged on 5 or more uses, as this one was.
Computed share from EPA ATTAINS filed records, not an official EPA rating or safety grade.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All supported | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 547 |
| Mixed | Not possible | 1 | 0 | 0 | 153 (this record) |
| None supported | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ringed cell: Champ-Isle La Motte. Source: EPA ATTAINS, Reporting cycles 1987–2026.
Scale and rank
Champ-Isle La Motte is one of 712 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from Vermont, and one of 712 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 20,962 assessed acres it ranks 146th by assessed size among the 38,628 lakes the dataset carries an area for, counting a state’s repeated filings of one water once, behind 145 lakes with a larger one.
Reported trophic class
Mesotrophic is the trophic class the filing agency reported to EPA ATTAINS for this assessment unit. It describes nutrient enrichment, not whether the water is safe, and it is not a PlainLakes inference. What the trophic scale measures.
In context
Where Champ-Isle La Motte sits nationally
Assessed size among U.S. lakes
Distribution of assessed acreage across ATTAINS lakes filed with an area, counting a state’s repeated filings of one water once
20,962 Top 1% larger than 99%+ of 38,628 lakes
lakes the dataset carries an area for, counting a state’s repeated filings of one water once, bucketed by value
Source EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycles 1987–2026
Listed causes vs waterbodies carrying a verdict
How many impairment causes U.S. waterbodies with a reported verdict carry
3 Longer than most more listed causes than 90% of 23,610 waterbodies carrying a verdict
named waterbodies carrying a verdict, bucketed by value
Source EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycles 1987–2026
In both charts each bar is a band and taller bars hold more waterbodies; the dashed line and filled bar mark Champ-Isle La Motte. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
Vermont context
ATTAINS carries 712 lake-type waterbodies in Vermont, 154 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 558 fully supporting. Among the 712 indexed units there, Champ-Isle La Motte ranks 28th by listed-cause count (3 listed causes) and 3rd by assessed size among the 712 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (154 statewide) . Its listed causes include PCBs in Fish Tissue, Phosphorus, and Mercury in Fish Tissue, which also appear among Vermont's most-filed impairment causes (led by Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum).
| Other large assessed lakes in Vermont | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Champ-Northeast Arm Not Supporting | 57,022 |
| Champ-Main Lake Not Supporting | 37,809 |
| Champ-Malletts Bay Not Supporting | 12,049 |
| Champ-Port Henry Not Supporting | 8,372 |
| Champ-Missisquoi Bay Not Supporting | 6,398 |
| Memphremagog Not Supporting | 5,660 |
Peers near Champ-Isle La Motte's size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (20,962 acres here).
- Ross Barnett Reservoir · 20,737 acres · MS
- Eufaula Lake, N. Canadian River Arm · 20,680 acres · OK
- International Amistad Reservoir · 21,328 acres · TX
- Kentucky Reservoir · 20,592 acres · TN
Similar cause load
Nearest listed-cause counts (3 here). Peers already in the acreage column are omitted.
- 67th St. Beach · 3 causes · IL
- Abiquiu Reservoir · 3 causes · NM
- Absecon Creek (AC Reserviors) (gage to SB) · 3 causes · NJ
- Absecon Creek (below gage) · 3 causes · NJ
What to do with this record
- The fish-consumption use is assessed as not supporting. Before eating fish from this lake, check your state fish-advisory program for species-specific meal limits. Consumption status guide
- Impairment listings follow the Clean Water Act 303(d) process; a listing is a regulatory finding, not a closure notice. 303(d) explained
PlainLakes renders state assessment decisions and federal gauge observations without modification. It does not issue advisories.
Assessment decisions on this page are rendered directly from state Integrated Report records in EPA's ATTAINS system; gauge figures are daily-value observations from the USGS National Water Information System, no number is typed in by an editor. Overall status, use verdicts, and causes are the state's reported decisions for assessment unit VT05-04L02_01. Counts and percentiles are computed across all lake-type records PlainLakes ingests from ATTAINS. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-17. Primary sources: EPA ATTAINS and USGS National Water Information System.