National ranking · listed impairment causes
Lakes with the most listed impairment causes
Ranked by the count of causes listed as impairing designated uses of each waterbody in its EPA ATTAINS Integrated Report (Clean Water Act section 303(d), reporting cycles 1987-2026). A long cause list reflects both water problems and monitoring intensity, since intensively studied lakes accumulate more listings than unmonitored ones, and some states file one unit spanning a lake and the streams feeding it, so unit scope counts too.
- 17
- #1: Depue (causes)
- 50
- Ranked waterbodies
- Mercury in Fish Tissue
- Most-listed cause label nationally
This ranking in one line
Depue in IL carries the most listed impairment causes of any lake-type waterbody in ATTAINS, with 17 causes listed against its designated uses.
- #1
- Depue, IL
- Listed causes
- 17
- Status
- Not Supporting
Data updated 2026-08-17
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ATTAINS program, 60,590 lake-type waterbodies carry filed assessment records nationwide, and this ranking orders the 50 with the most listed impairment causes in the August 2026 extract. See our methodology for reporting-unit limits and refresh cadence.
Where the most-listed lakes are
States contributing entries to this ranking
- NJ
NJ
25 ranked units
- IL 8
IL
8 ranked units
- WA 3
WA
3 ranked units
- CA 2
CA
2 ranked units
- ID 2
ID
2 ranked units
- MA 2
MA
2 ranked units
- NH 2
NH
2 ranked units
- OR 2
OR
2 ranked units
- LA 1
LA
1 ranked units
- MI 1
MI
1 ranked units
- NV 1
NV
1 ranked units
- NY 1
NY
1 ranked units
What this shows NJ contributes 25 of the 50 most-listed units, and 12 states appear in total. 25 of these 50 units span a stream reach as well as lake water and carry that reach's listings too, so how a state draws its reporting units moves this chart alongside sampling depth and water condition.
Every row
Full ranking
| # | Name | Listed causes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Depue (IL) Not Supporting | 17 |
| 2 | Taylor River Refuge Pond (NH) Not Supporting | 16 |
| 3 | Devil's Swamp Lake and Bayou Baton Rouge (LA) Not Supporting | 13 |
| 3 | Morses Creek / Piles Creek (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 13 |
| 3 | Passaic R Lwr (Saddle R to Dundee Dam) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 13 |
| 6 | Lake Union / Lake Washington Ship Canal (WA) Assessment unit WA47122G3C3_NW Not Supporting | 12 |
| 7 | Salton Sea (CA) Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Cooper River (Rt 130 to Wallworth gage) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Hackensack R (Amtrak bridge to Rt 3) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Lake Union (WA) Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Cooper River (Wallworth gage to Evesham Rd) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Branchport Creek (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Hackensack R (below Amtrak bridge) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Hackensack R (Ft Lee Rd to Oradell gage) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Raritan R Lwr (Lawrence Bk to Mile Run) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Passaic R Upr (Pompton R to Pine Bk) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 7 | Passaic R Lwr (Second R to Saddle R) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 11 |
| 18 | Brownlee Reservoir (OR) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Fox (IL) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Grass (IL) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Lake Quinsigamond (MA) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Frank Holten 1 (IL) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Grove Pond (MA) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Cooper River (above Evesham Road) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Lake Union / Lake Washington Ship Canal (WA) Assessment unit WA47122G3E2_NW Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Campus (IL) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Pennsauken Ck NB (incl StrwbrdgLk-NJTPK) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Passaic R Lwr (4th St br to Second R) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Raritan R Lwr (below Lawrence Bk) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Menantico Creek (above Rt 552) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Matawan Creek (below Ravine Drive) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Hudson River (lower) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Raritan R Lwr (Millstone to Rt 206) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Hackensack R (Bellmans Ck to Ft Lee Rd) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Rahway River SB (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Passaic R Lwr (Goeffle Bk to Pump stn) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Third River (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Pews Creek to Shrewsbury River (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Rice Dam Pond - on Taylor River (NH) Not Supporting | 10 |
| 18 | Passaic R Upr (Pine Bk br to Rockaway) (NJ) multi-water unit Not Supporting | 10 |
| 41 | Lake Michigan Nearshore (IL) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Eagle Lake (Lassen County) (CA) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Rye Patch Reservoir (NV) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Brownlee Reservoir, Lower (Porters Flat to Brownlee Dam) (ID) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Springfield (IL) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Gay Stamp Sands Area of Impact (MI) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Horseshoe (Madison) (IL) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Onondaga Lake, southern end (NY) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Oxbow Reservoir (ID) Not Supporting | 9 |
| 41 | Oxbow Reservoir (OR) Not Supporting | 9 |
47 of the 50 rows in this table tie on the ranked value: 3 at 13 (rank 3), 11 at 11 (rank 7), 23 at 10 (rank 18), and 1 further tied group. Tied rows share a rank and are listed in no meaningful order; where a tie reaches the top the medal is shared, because nothing separates those rows.
Ordered by the count of parameters with status Cause in the state's latest reported assessment cycle. Ties break by assessed size. Waterbodies with zero listed causes are excluded. Some states file one assessment unit spanning several kinds of water. New Jersey bundles a lake with the stream reaches feeding it. A count listed against such a unit covers every water in it, so unit scope, and not only the water, moves a position on this ranking. Records that span more than lake water are marked.
Reading this ranking
- A high cause count is a reason to read the record, not a closure notice; see which uses each cause affects on the lake page. Causes explained
- The 303(d) listing process behind these counts runs on multi-year cycles. 303(d) explained
- Compare cause patterns state by state. States hub
Rankings order reported source data; they are not endorsements or safety determinations.
Rankings are computed from state assessment decisions in EPA's ATTAINS system and USGS National Water Information System daily values; the ordering metric and any exclusion floor are stated above the table, no number is typed in by an editor. Cause counts are per assessment unit, recomputed from the full ingested ATTAINS lake-type universe on every data refresh. 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.
How to read this ranking
State water agencies report the listed-cause records to EPA's ATTAINS system in recurring Integrated Report cycles. This ranking publishes 50 waterbodies from the August 2026 build, each with at least one listed impairment cause; it is not a real-time water-quality alert or a count of every lake in the United States. See the methodology for the source, refresh, and reporting-unit limits behind the list.