New Jersey lake · state assessment record
Metedeconk R Estuary
Assessment decisions reported by New Jersey to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2022 reporting cycle.
- 3.30
- Assessed acres
- Lake
- Water type
This waterbody in one line
Metedeconk R Estuary, a lake in New Jersey, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with 6 listed impairment causes in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2022). 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 (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
- P8
- 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.
Where Metedeconk R Estuary stands in 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: cause-list length
The standout filed fact is cause-list length: 6 listed impairment causes, a longer list than 99% of assessed lake-type units (n=23,610). List length tracks how states sample and code, not a severity score.
Every ruled-on use is not supporting
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.
Small assessed unit
3.3 acres puts Metedeconk R Estuary 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.
Metedeconk R Estuary: Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Metedeconk R Estuary. 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 Metedeconk R Estuary 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, New Jersey carries 611 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to Metedeconk R Estuary 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 | Aquatic-life or related | Not Supporting |
| Fish Consumption | Fish-consumption or fishery | Not Supporting |
| Primary Contact Recreation | Recreation | Not Supporting |
| Shellfish Harvesting | Fish-consumption or fishery | Not Supporting |
| Aquatic Life - Trout | Aquatic-life or related | Not Assessed |
| Public Water Supply | Drinking-water supply designation | Not Assessed |
| Secondary Contact Recreation | Recreation | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fecal Coliform | Shellfish Harvesting | 2006 | TMDL approved |
| Enterococcus | Primary Contact Recreation | 2008 | TMDL approved |
| Dieldrin in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2018 | TMDL priority: Low |
| Dissolved Oxygen | Aquatic Life | 2018 | TMDL priority: Medium |
| Mercury in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2018 | TMDL priority: Low |
| PCBs in Fish Tissue | Fish Consumption | 2018 | TMDL priority: Low |
Reading the record
Where Metedeconk R Estuary sits among peers
45% of New Jersey's lakes assessed this deeply also had no use supported
New Jersey ruled definitively on 4 designated uses at Metedeconk R Estuary and found none of them supported. The dataset shows 211 New Jersey lakes judged to that same depth.
New Jersey's assessed lakes are most often judged on 3 uses; this one was judged on 4.
Computed share from EPA ATTAINS filed records, not an official EPA rating or safety grade.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All supported | 6 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Mixed | Not possible | 26 | 141 | 115 | 26 |
| None supported | 22 | 45 | 101 | 96 (this record) | 11 |
Ringed cell: Metedeconk R Estuary. Source: EPA ATTAINS, Reporting cycles 1987–2026.
Scale and rank
Metedeconk R Estuary is one of 611 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from New Jersey, and one of 588 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 3.30 assessed acres it ranks 35,622nd 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 35,621 lakes with a larger one.
In context
Where Metedeconk R Estuary 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
3 Top 92% larger than 8% 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 Metedeconk R Estuary. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
New Jersey context
ATTAINS carries 611 lake-type waterbodies in New Jersey, 583 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 21 fully supporting. Among the 588 indexed units there, Metedeconk R Estuary ranks 114th by listed-cause count (6 listed causes) and 503rd by assessed size among the 588 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (583 statewide) . Its listed causes include Mercury in Fish Tissue, which also appears among New Jersey's most-filed impairment causes (led by Arsenic). It also lists Fecal Coliform, Enterococcus, Dieldrin in Fish Tissue, Dissolved Oxygen, and PCBs in Fish Tissue, outside that top-five list.
| Other large assessed lakes in New Jersey | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Wanaque Reservior (below Monks gage) Not Supporting | 2,599 |
| Lake Hopatcong Not Supporting | 2,583 |
| Prescott Brook / Round Valley Reservior Not Supporting | 2,297 |
| Merrill Creek Not Supporting | 1,298 |
| Wallkill R / Lake Mohawk(above Sparta Sta) Not Supporting | 975 |
| Wanaque R/Greenwood Lk(aboveMonks gage) Not Supporting | 881 |
Peers near Metedeconk R Estuary's size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (3.30 acres here).
- Austin Mill Brook - Mill Brook · 3.30 acres · NH
- Camp Lake · 3.30 acres · WI
- Donovan (south bay) · 3.30 acres · MN
- Little Round Lake · 3.30 acres · WI
Similar cause load
Nearest listed-cause counts (6 here). Peers already in the acreage column are omitted.
- Allegan Lake · 6 causes · MI
- Ballinger Lake · 6 causes · WA
- Baptist Pond · 6 causes · NH
- Barrett Lake · 6 causes · CA
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 NJBarnegatBay02. 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.