Vermont lake · state assessment record
Shelburne
Assessment decisions reported by Vermont to EPA under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b), last assessed in the 2016 reporting cycle.
- 452
- Assessed acres
- Lake, Freshwater
- Water type
This waterbody in one line
Shelburne, a lake in Vermont, is assessed as not supporting one or more designated uses, with 4 listed impairment causes in the state's most recent Integrated Report cycle (2016). By assessed acreage it sits among the largest 10% by assessed acreage nationally (38,628 lakes); its impairment list is among the longest nationally (4 listed causes vs 23,610 assessed lakes). Vermont rules it not supporting for aquatic habitat to support aquatic biota, wildlife, or plant life, while other aquatic-life uses are supported. Fish consumption is assessed as fully supporting.
- Not Supporting
- overall status
- P90
- Assessed size nationally
- P3
- Shorter cause list
- Not Supporting
- aquatic-life or related
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 Shelburne 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 Vermont, cause-list rank is the local separator: Shelburne is 23 of 712 indexed units by listed-cause count, toward the top of that state's filed lists.
Longer than most cause lists
4 listed causes puts this unit above 95% 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.
A split ruling across uses
This record splits: Not Supporting on recreation, aquatic life, Fully Supporting on fish consumption. The divergence is inside the designated-use matrix, not a single all-or-nothing label.
Large assessed unit
At 452 acres, Shelburne clears the upper tercile of assessed lake-type units with an area on file (3,978 still larger). Size comparisons use the portal's deduplicated lake ranking population, not raw ATTAINS row counts.
Shelburne: Category 5, TMDL still owed
Category 5 is the Integrated Report band where a TMDL (or equivalent) is still expected for Shelburne. Read the listed causes and any cleanup actions filed beside them before treating the overall status tile as a finished restoration story.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ATTAINS program, Vermont carries 712 filed lake-type waterbodies in the August 2026 extract, and this page renders the assessment record EPA assigned to Shelburne 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 Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | Aquatic-life or related | Fully Supporting |
| Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life | Aquatic-life or related | Not Supporting |
| Fish Consumption | Fish-consumption or fishery | Fully Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses | Recreation | Fully Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Fishing and Related Recreational Uses | Recreation | Not Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation | Recreation | Not Supporting |
| The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions | Other | Not Supporting |
| The Use of Water for Irrigation of Crops and Other Agricultural Uses | Other | Not Assessed |
| The Use of the Water for Public Water Source | Drinking-water supply designation | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phosphorus | The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation; Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters; The Use of Waters for Fishing and Related Recreational Uses | 2006 | TMDL priority: Low |
| Curly-Leaf Pondweed | Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life; The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions; The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation; The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses Also assessed as meeting: Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | 2018 | None reported |
| Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum | Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life; The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions; The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation; The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses Also assessed as meeting: Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | 2018 | None reported |
| Non-Native Aquatic Plants | Aquatic Habitat to Support Aquatic Biota, Wildlife, or Plant Life; The Use of Waters for the Enjoyment of Aesthetic Conditions; The Use of Waters for Swimming and Other Primary Contact Recreation; The Use of Waters for Boating and Related Recreational Uses Also assessed as meeting: Aquatic Biota and Wildlife That May Utilize or Are Present in the Waters | 2018 | None reported |
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
- Crop Production (Non-Irrigated) (confirmed) Managed Pasture Grazing (confirmed) Post-Development Erosion and Sedimentation (confirmed)
Reading the record
Where Shelburne sits among peers
22% of Vermont's lakes assessed this deeply also came out mixed
Vermont ruled definitively on 7 designated uses at Shelburne and found 4 of 7 not supported. The dataset shows 700 Vermont lakes judged to that same depth.
Vermont's assessed lakes are most often judged on 5 or more uses, as this one was.
Computed share from EPA ATTAINS filed records, not an official EPA rating or safety grade.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All supported | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 547 |
| Mixed | Not possible | 1 | 0 | 0 | 153 (this record) |
| None supported | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ringed cell: Shelburne. Source: EPA ATTAINS, Reporting cycles 1987–2026.
Scale and rank
Shelburne is one of 712 lake-type waterbodies reported to EPA from Vermont, and one of 712 whose reported record carries enough populated assessment or gauge data for this site to list and index it. At 452 assessed acres it ranks 3,979th 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 3,978 lakes with a larger one.
Reported trophic class
Vermont carried the trophic field for this assessment unit and filed it as unclassified, which records that no class was determined rather than that the water is unenriched. What the trophic scale measures.
In context
Where Shelburne 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
452 Top 10% larger than 90% 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
4 Longer than most more listed causes than 95% 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 Shelburne. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share.
In context
Vermont context
ATTAINS carries 712 lake-type waterbodies in Vermont, 154 assessed as not supporting at least one use and 558 fully supporting. Among the 712 indexed units there, Shelburne ranks 23rd by listed-cause count (4 listed causes) and 47th by assessed size among the 712 with an area filed; it sits in the not-supporting set (154 statewide) . Its listed causes include Phosphorus; and Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum, which also appear among Vermont's most-filed impairment causes (led by Eurasian Water Milfoil, Myriophyllum Spicatum). It also lists Curly-Leaf Pondweed and Non-Native Aquatic Plants, outside that top-five list.
| Other large assessed lakes in Vermont | Assessed acres |
|---|---|
| Champ-Northeast Arm Not Supporting | 57,022 |
| Champ-Main Lake Not Supporting | 37,809 |
| Champ-Isle La Motte Not Supporting | 20,962 |
| Champ-Malletts Bay Not Supporting | 12,049 |
| Champ-Port Henry Not Supporting | 8,372 |
| Champ-Missisquoi Bay Not Supporting | 6,398 |
Peers near Shelburne's size or cause load
Similar assessed acres
Nearest filed extents (452 acres here).
- Mermet · 452 acres · IL
- Powers Lake · 451 acres · WI
- Round · 453 acres · MN
- Tenderfoot Lake · 453 acres · WI
Similar cause load
Nearest listed-cause counts (4 here). Peers already in the acreage column are omitted.
- Agency Lake · 4 causes · OR
- Alachua Sink · 4 causes · FL
- Aldrich Pond · 4 causes · MA
- American Falls Reservoir (Snake River) · 4 causes · ID
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 VT08-02L01. 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.