Maryland impoundment · state assessment record
Clopper Lake
Assessment decisions reported by Maryland to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2022 reporting cycle.
- 87
- Assessed acres
- Impoundment
- Water type
This waterbody in one line
Clopper Lake, an impoundment in Maryland, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with 3 listed impairment causes in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2022). By assessed acreage it sits above the national median by assessed acreage (38,628 lakes); its impairment list is among the longest nationally (3 listed causes vs 23,610 assessed lakes). Aquatic life is assessed as not supporting. Maryland assesses fishing as supported; it reported no verdict on fish consumption itself.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P67
- Assessed size nationally
- P5
- Shorter cause list
- Not 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.
How Clopper Lake 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 Maryland, cause-list rank is the local separator: Clopper Lake is 2 of 37 indexed units by listed-cause count, toward the top of that state's filed lists.
Not one verdict, several
This record splits: Not Supporting on aquatic life, Fully Supporting on fish consumption. 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.
Clopper Lake: Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Clopper Lake. 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 Clopper Lake 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, Maryland carries 63 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to Clopper Lake 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 Life and Wildlife | Aquatic-life or related | Not Supporting |
| Fishing | Fish-consumption or fishery | Fully Supporting |
| Public Water Supply | Drinking-water supply designation | Not Supporting |
The record
Listed impairment causes
Causes the state listed as impairing designated uses of this impoundment, with the cycle each was first listed and the Clean Water Act action recorded against it.
| Cause | Affected uses | First listed | Cleanup standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phosphorus, Total | Aquatic Life and Wildlife | 1998 | TMDL approved |
| Sedimentation/Siltation | Aquatic Life and Wildlife | 1998 | TMDL approved |
| Chlorophyll-a | Public Water Supply | 2022 | TMDL priority: Low |
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.
- Phosphorus, Total
- Urban Runoff/Storm Sewers (suspected)
- Sedimentation/Siltation
- Urban Runoff/Storm Sewers (suspected)
Maryland also recorded the source of at least one listing here as unknown, including for Chlorophyll-a.
Reading the record
Where Clopper Lake sits among peers
5 of 5 Maryland lakes assessed this deeply also came out mixed (every lake judged to this depth, so the outcome does not set this record apart)
Maryland ruled definitively on 3 designated uses at Clopper Lake and found 2 of 3 not supported. The dataset shows 5 Maryland lakes judged to that same depth.
Maryland's assessed lakes are most often judged on 1 use; this one was judged on 3.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All supported | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mixed | Not possible | 8 | 5 (this record) | 1 | 0 |
| None supported | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ringed cell: Clopper Lake. Source: EPA ATTAINS, Reporting cycles 1987–2026.
Scale and rank
Clopper Lake is one of 63 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from Maryland, and one of 37 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 87 assessed acres it ranks 12,851st 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 12,850 lakes with a larger one.
Still unfiled
The state has not yet filed a definitive recreation verdict for this record; that field populates when it reports it in a future Integrated Report cycle.
In context
Where Clopper Lake 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
87 Top 33% larger than 67% 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 Clopper Lake. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
Maryland context
ATTAINS carries 63 lake-type waterbodies in Maryland, 32 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 18 fully supporting. Among the 37 indexed units there, Clopper Lake ranks 2nd by listed-cause count (3 listed causes) and 19th by assessed size among the 37 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (32 statewide) . Its listed causes include Phosphorus, Total; Sedimentation/Siltation; and Chlorophyll-a, which also appear among Maryland's most-filed impairment causes (led by Phosphorus, Total).
| Other large assessed lakes in Maryland | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Deep Creek Lake Not Supporting | 3,887 |
| Conowingo Reservoir Not Supporting | 3,070 |
| Liberty Reservoir Not Supporting | 2,933 |
| Loch Raven Reservoir Not Supporting | 2,236 |
| Prettyboy Reservoir Not Supporting | 1,472 |
| Jennings Randolph Reservoir Fully Supporting | 941 |
Peers near Clopper Lake's size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (87 acres here).
- Columbia River (Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake) · 87 acres · WA
- Rock Lake · 87 acres · MI
- Stony · 87 acres · MN
- Gardner · 87 acres · MN
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
- Assessment verdicts are cycle-based, not real-time. For fish-consumption decisions, your state advisory program is the binding source. 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 MD-021402080857-Clopper_Lake. 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.