Ohio Great Lakes waterbody · state assessment record
Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m)
Assessment decisions reported by Ohio to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2026 reporting cycle, a cycle that is open for public comment.
- 13.39
- Assessed square miles
- Great Lakes Open Water
- Water type
This waterbody in one line
Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m), a Great Lakes waterbody in Ohio, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with 6 listed impairment causes in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2026), a cycle that is open for public comment. 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 (6 listed causes vs 23,610 assessed lakes). Aquatic life is assessed as not supporting. Fish consumption is assessed as not supporting.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P99
- Assessed size nationally
- P1
- 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.
Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) 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 Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) nationally is assessed size: 8,570 acres, larger than 99% of the 38,628 lake-type units with an area on file.
Longer than most cause lists
6 listed causes puts this unit above 99% 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.
Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m): Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m). 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 Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) 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, Ohio carries 7 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) 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. Monitoring behind at least one of these designated-use verdicts ran through 2021, as Ohio filed it. For the definitive verdicts on this record, Ohio filed the assessment basis as Monitored Data. Those are EPA's own words, not PlainLakes' summary of them.
| Designated use | Group | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Aquatic Life - Exceptional Warmwater Habitat | Aquatic-life or related | Not Supporting |
| Human Health - Fish Consumption | Fish-consumption or fishery | Not Supporting |
| Recreation - Bathing Waters | Recreation | Not Supporting |
The record
Listed impairment causes
Causes the state listed as impairing designated uses of this Great Lakes waterbody, with the cycle each was first listed and the Clean Water Act action recorded against it.
| Cause | Affected uses | First listed | Cleanup standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escherichia coli (E. coli) | Recreation - Bathing Waters | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
| Habitat Alterations | Aquatic Life - Exceptional Warmwater Habitat | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
| Non-Native Fish/Shellfish/Zooplankton | Aquatic Life - Exceptional Warmwater Habitat | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
| Nutrients | Aquatic Life - Exceptional Warmwater Habitat | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
| PCBs in Fish Tissue | Human Health - Fish Consumption | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
| Siltation | Aquatic Life - Exceptional Warmwater Habitat | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
Reading the record
How current is Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m)'s evidence?
5 years between the 2026 reporting cycle and monitoring through 2021
Monitoring behind at least one of these designated-use verdicts ran through 2021, as Ohio filed it. For the definitive verdicts on this record, Ohio filed the assessment basis as Monitored Data. Those are EPA's own words, not PlainLakes' summary of them.
The cycle is when the state reported; the monitoring year, where filed, is when it measured. How to read assessment currency.
Scale and rank
Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) is one of 7 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from Ohio, and one of 7 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 13.39 square miles (8,570 acres) it ranks 376th 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 375 lakes with a larger one.
In context
Where Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) 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
13 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
6 Longer than most more listed causes than 99% 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 Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m). Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
Ohio context
ATTAINS carries 7 lake-type waterbodies in Ohio, 7 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 0 fully supporting. Among the 7 indexed units there, Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m) ranks 4th by listed-cause count (6 listed causes) and 6th by assessed size among the 7 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (7 statewide) . Its listed causes include Escherichia coli (E. coli); Non-Native Fish/Shellfish/Zooplankton; Nutrients; and PCBs in Fish Tissue, which also appear among Ohio's most-filed impairment causes (led by PCBs in Fish Tissue). It also lists Habitat Alterations and Siltation, outside that top-five list.
| Other large assessed lakes in Ohio | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Lake Erie Central Basin Open Water (>3m) Not Supporting | 1,628,787 |
| Lake Erie Western Basin Open Water (>3m) Not Supporting | 337,472 |
| Lake Erie Sandusky Basin Open Water (>3m) Not Supporting | 231,494 |
| Lake Erie Sandusky Basin Shoreline (<=3m) Not Supporting | 43,526 |
| Lake Erie Western Basin Shoreline (<=3m) Not Supporting | 30,643 |
| Lake Erie Islands Shoreline (<=3m) Not Supporting | 3,194 |
Peers near Lake Erie Central Basin Shoreline (<=3m)'s size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (8,570 acres here).
- Lake Butte des Morts · 8,569 acres · WI
- Alabama River (Dannelly Lake) · 8,621 acres · AL
- Blackshear Lake · 8,518 acres · GA
- Tennessee River (Lake Guntersville) · 8,634 acres · AL
Similar cause load
Nearest listed-cause counts (6 here). Peers already in the acreage column are omitted.
- Allegan Lake · 6 causes · MI
- Almonesson Creek · 6 causes · NJ
- Ambrose Brook (below Lake Nelson) · 6 causes · NJ
- Assunpink Ck (below Shipetaukin Ck) · 6 causes · NJ
What to do with this record
- The fish-consumption use is assessed as not supporting. Before eating fish from this Great Lakes waterbody, 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 OHLE041202000203. 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.