Connecticut lake · state assessment record
Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford)
Assessment decisions reported by Connecticut to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2014 reporting cycle.
- 386
- Assessed acres
- Lake, Freshwater
- Water type
This waterbody in one line
Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford), a lake in Connecticut, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with one listed impairment cause in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2014). By assessed acreage it sits in the upper quartile by assessed acreage nationally (38,628 lakes); its impairment list is among the longest nationally (one listed cause vs 23,610 assessed lakes). Aquatic life is assessed as fully supporting. Fish consumption is assessed as not supporting.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P89
- Assessed size nationally
- P20
- 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.
Reading Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford)'s filed record
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 Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) nationally is assessed size: 385.8 acres, larger than 89% of the 38,628 lake-type units with an area on file.
Not one verdict, several
This record splits: Not Supporting on fish consumption, Fully Supporting on recreation, aquatic life. The divergence is inside the designated-use matrix, not a single all-or-nothing label.
Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford): Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford). 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 Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) is Not Supporting. That tile summarizes the assessment unit; the designated-use rows and cause list are the evidence behind it.
Typical cause-list length
1 listed cause is a middle-tercile list length among assessed lake-type units. Look to IR category and use outcomes for the distinctive reading.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ATTAINS program, Connecticut carries 182 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) 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. Connecticut filed its own confidence on the 4 definitive verdicts it rated: Good. That rating is the filer's, in EPA's own field, and EPA publishes no definition of the four words it offers.
| Designated use | Group | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Existing or Proposed Drinking Water | Drinking-water supply designation | Fully Supporting Filer confidence: Good |
| Fish Consumption | Fish-consumption or fishery | Not Supporting Filer confidence: Good |
| Habitat for Fish, Other Aquatic Life and Wildlife | Aquatic-life or related | Fully Supporting Filer confidence: Good |
| Recreation | Recreation | Fully Supporting Filer confidence: Good |
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 | Fish Consumption | 1996 | 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.
- Mercury
- Atmospheric Deposition - Toxics (suspected)
Reading the record
Where Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) sits among peers
1 of 1 Connecticut lakes assessed this deeply also came out mixed (every lake judged to this depth, so the outcome does not set this record apart)
Connecticut ruled definitively on 4 designated uses at Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) and found 1 of 4 not supported. The dataset shows 1 Connecticut lakes judged to that same depth.
Connecticut's assessed lakes are most often judged on 2 uses; this one was judged on 4.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All supported | 42 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mixed | Not possible | 11 | 5 | 1 (this record) | 0 |
| None supported | 16 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Ringed cell: Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford). Source: EPA ATTAINS, Reporting cycles 1987–2026.
Scale and rank
Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) is one of 182 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from Connecticut, and one of 97 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 386 assessed acres it ranks 4,463rd 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 4,462 lakes with a larger one.
In context
Where Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) 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
386 Top 11% larger than 89% 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
1 Longer than most more listed causes than 49% 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 Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford). Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
Connecticut context
ATTAINS carries 182 lake-type waterbodies in Connecticut, 44 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 95 fully supporting. Among the 97 indexed units there, Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) ranks 32nd by listed-cause count (one listed cause) and 14th by assessed size among the 97 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (44 statewide) . Its listed causes (Mercury) sit outside Connecticut's top-five list, which is led by Algae.
| Other large assessed lakes in Connecticut | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Candlewood, Lake (New Fairfield/Danbury/Sherman/New Milford) Fully Supporting | 5,086 |
| Lillinonah, Lake (Newtown/Southbury/Bridgewater/Brookfield) Not Supporting | 1,595 |
| Bantam Lake (Litchfield/Morris) Not Supporting | 955 |
| Colebrook River (Reservoir) Lake (Colebrook) Not Assessed | 852 |
| Pachaug Pond (Griswold) Fully Supporting | 837 |
| Saugatuck Reservoir (Weston/Easton/Redding) Fully Supporting | 823 |
Peers near Compensating Res. (L. McDonough) (Barkhamsted/New Hartford)'s size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (386 acres here).
- Juggler · 386 acres · MN
- McFarland · 386 acres · MN
- Lake Fork Reservoir · 386 acres · TX
- Hamilton Reservoir · 386 acres · MA
Similar cause load
Nearest listed-cause counts (1 here). Peers already in the acreage column are omitted.
- Aaron · 1 causes · MN
- Aaron River Reservoir · 1 causes · MA
- Abbotts Creek (including Lexington-Thomasville Water Supply Reservoir at normal reservoir elevation, Tom-A-Lex Lake) · 1 causes · NC
- Abeniki Lake · 1 causes · NH
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 CT4308-00-1-L2_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.