North Carolina reservoir · state assessment record
NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) (3,316 acres)
Assessment decisions reported by N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2022 reporting cycle.
- 3,316
- Assessed acres
- Reservoir
- Water type
This waterbody in one line
NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation), a reservoir in North Carolina, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with one listed impairment cause in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2022). By assessed acreage it sits among the largest 5% 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 not supporting.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P98
- Assessed size nationally
- P20
- 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 NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) 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: assessed size
The number that most separates NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) nationally is assessed size: 3,316 acres, larger than 98% of the 38,628 lake-type units with an area on file.
Every filed use falls short
On the uses this filer ruled on, aquatic life, every determination is Not Supporting. That is a use-by-use reading of the filed record, not a single overall lake grade.
NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation): Category 4B reading
Category 4B says other pollution-control requirements are expected to resolve the impairment on NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) without a TMDL. The decisive documents are those control requirements, not a load allocation.
Overall status: not supporting
The filer's overall status for NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) 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, North Carolina carries 299 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) 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 |
| Water Supply | Drinking-water supply designation | Fully Supporting |
The record
Listed impairment causes
Causes the state listed as impairing designated uses of this reservoir, with the cycle each was first listed and the Clean Water Act action recorded against it.
| Cause | Affected uses | First listed | Cleanup standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chlorophyll-a - Aquatic Life Use Support | Aquatic Life | 1901 (not a listing cycle) | 4B Restoration Approach |
Reading the record
NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation): Category 4B reading
4B Category 4B: impaired, other controls in place (not a TMDL path)
North Carolina filed this assessment unit as Category 4B: impaired, with other controls in place rather than a pollutant-budget TMDL under 303(d).
Scale and rank
NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) is one of 299 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from North Carolina, and one of 92 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 3,316 assessed acres it ranks 909th 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 908 lakes with a larger one.
Open in the register
The state has not yet filed a definitive fish-consumption verdict and a definitive recreation verdict for this record; those fields populate when it reports them in a future Integrated Report cycle.
In context
Where NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) 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
3,316 Top 2% larger than 98% 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 NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation). Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
North Carolina context
ATTAINS carries 299 lake-type waterbodies in North Carolina, 90 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 62 fully supporting. Among the 92 indexed units there, NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation) ranks 38th by listed-cause count (one listed cause) and 7th by assessed size among the 91 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (90 statewide) . Its listed causes include Chlorophyll-a - Aquatic Life Use Support, which also appears among North Carolina's most-filed impairment causes (led by Chlorophyll-a - Aquatic Life Use Support).
| Other large assessed lakes in North Carolina | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| CATAWBA RIVER (Lake Norman below elevation 760) Not Supporting | 31,332 |
| Phelps Lake Fully Supporting | 15,938 |
| Albemarle Sound Not Supporting | 15,600 |
| Nutbush Creek Arm of John H. Kerr Reservoir (below normal pool elevation 300 feet MSL or as this elevation may be adjusted by the Corps of Engineers) Fully Supporting | 9,690 |
| Lake Waccamaw Fully Supporting | 8,840 |
| ROANOKE RIVER (Lake Gaston below normal full power pool elevation 200 MSL) Fully Supporting | 7,965 |
Peers near NEUSE RIVER (Falls Lake below normal pool elevation)'s size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (3,316 acres here).
- Whitefish Lake · 3,317 acres · MT
- Elsinore, Lake · 3,311 acres · CA
- O. H. Ivie Reservoir · 3,320 acres · TX
- Diversion Lake · 3,309 acres · TX
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
- Abeniki Lake · 1 causes · NH
- Academy Brook II Dam · 1 causes · NH
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 NC27-(5.5)b1. 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.