Vermont lake · state assessment record
Champ-Shelburne Bay (6.00 acres)
Assessment decisions reported by Vermont to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2016 reporting cycle.
- 6.00
- Assessed acres
- Lake, Freshwater
- Water type
- Mesotrophic
- Reported trophic class
This waterbody in one line
Champ-Shelburne Bay, a lake in Vermont, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with 5 listed impairment causes in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2016). By assessed acreage it sits among the smaller assessed lakes nationally (38,628 lakes with a filed area); its impairment list is among the longest nationally (5 listed causes vs 23,610 assessed lakes). Vermont rules it not supporting for aquatic habitat to support aquatic biota, wildlife, or plant life, while other aquatic-life uses are supported. Fish consumption is assessed as not supporting.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P12
- Assessed size nationally
- P1
- Shorter cause list
- Not Supporting
- aquatic-life or related
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.
How Champ-Shelburne Bay reads against the filed 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: in-state cause rank
Inside Vermont, cause-list rank is the local separator: Champ-Shelburne Bay is 18 of 712 indexed units by listed-cause count, toward the top of that state's filed lists.
Longer than most cause lists
5 listed causes puts this unit above 97% 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.
No ruled-on use clears the bar
On the uses this filer ruled on, fish consumption, recreation, aquatic life, every determination is Not Supporting. That is a use-by-use reading of the filed record, not a single overall lake grade.
Champ-Shelburne Bay: Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Champ-Shelburne Bay. Read the listed causes and any cleanup actions filed beside them before treating the overall status tile as a finished restoration story.
Small assessed unit
6 acres puts Champ-Shelburne Bay in the lower tercile by assessed area. Small units are often beaches, ponds, or segments, read the water-type and co-filed notes before comparing them to a multi-thousand-acre reservoir.
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-Shelburne Bay 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 | Not Supporting |
| Fish Consumption | Fish-consumption or fishery | Not Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses | Recreation | Not 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 | Not 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2006 | TMDL approved |
| PCBs in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2006 | TMDL priority: Low |
| Phosphorus | The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation; The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions | 2006 | TMDL approved |
| Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum | The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions; The Use of the Water for Public Water Source; Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life; The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses; The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation Also assessed as meeting: Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | 2016 | None reported |
| Zebra Mussel, Dreissena Polymorph | Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life; The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation; The Use of the Water for Public Water Source Also assessed as meeting: Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | 2016 | None reported |
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.
- Mercury in Fish Tissue
- Atmospheric Deposition - Toxics (suspected)
- PCBs in Fish Tissue
- Illegal Dumps or Other Inappropriate Waste Disposal (suspected)
- Phosphorus
- Agriculture (suspected) Non-Point Source (suspected)
- Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum
- Other Marina/Boating on-Vessel Discharges (suspected)
- Zebra Mussel, Dreissena Polymorph
- Other Marina/Boating on-Vessel Discharges (suspected)
Reading the record
Where Champ-Shelburne Bay sits among peers
22% of Vermont's lakes assessed this deeply also came out mixed
Vermont ruled definitively on 8 designated uses at Champ-Shelburne Bay and found 6 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-Shelburne Bay. Source: EPA ATTAINS, Reporting cycles 1987–2026.
Scale and rank
Champ-Shelburne Bay 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 6.00 assessed acres it ranks 33,743rd 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 33,742 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-Shelburne Bay 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
6 Top 88% larger than 12% 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
5 Longer than most more listed causes than 97% 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-Shelburne Bay. 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-Shelburne Bay ranks 18th by listed-cause count (5 listed causes) and 600th by assessed size among the 712 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (154 statewide) . Its listed causes include Mercury in Fish Tissue; PCBs in Fish Tissue; Phosphorus; and Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum, which also appear among Vermont's most-filed impairment causes (led by Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum). It also lists Zebra Mussel, Dreissena Polymorph, outside that top-five list.
| Other large assessed lakes in Vermont | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Champ-Northeast Arm Not Supporting | 57,022 |
| Champ-Main Lake Not Supporting | 37,809 |
| Champ-Isle La Motte Not Supporting | 20,962 |
| Champ-Malletts Bay Not Supporting | 12,049 |
| Champ-Port Henry Not Supporting | 8,372 |
| Champ-Missisquoi Bay Not Supporting | 6,398 |
Peers near Champ-Shelburne Bay's size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (6.00 acres here).
- Acorn · 6.00 acres · IL
- Allen Lake · 6.00 acres · IN
- Androscoggin River (6) above Little Androscoggin · 6.00 acres · ME
- Arnold Lake · 6.00 acres · IN
Similar cause load
Nearest listed-cause counts (5 here). Peers already in the acreage column are omitted.
- Alexandria Lake No. 3 · 5 causes · NE
- Alexauken Ck (above 74d 55m) · 5 causes · NJ
- Alexauken Ck (below 74d 55m to 11BA06) · 5 causes · NJ
- Alloway Ck (Quinton to Alloway-WdstwnRd) · 5 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 VT05-11L01_03. 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.