Some of these decisions are not final. 215 of these 275 records carry a verdict Virginia decided in its 2026 Integrated Report, which is open for public comment, so they can change before the cycle is submitted to EPA. They are counted in every figure on this page.
State water-quality picture · #30 by reported lake-type waterbodies
Virginia lakes and reservoirs
Every figure on this page is computed from the assessment decisions Virginia reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Clean Water Act sections 303(d) and 305(b) (reporting cycles 2000–2026), plus daily water-level observations from the U.S. Geological Survey.
- 275
- Reported waterbodies
- 181
- Not supporting a use
- 126
- Fish use not supporting
- 0
- Gauged lakes
Virginia in one line
275 lake-type waterbodies in Virginia are reported to EPA ATTAINS across reporting cycles 2000–2026: 181 assessed as not supporting at least one designated use, 50 fully supporting, and 44 without a definitive overall verdict. The most-listed impairment cause is PCBs in Fish Tissue, on 90 waterbodies. This ranks the cause names filed in Virginia, not distinct pollutants: PCBs appear under 2 of them, together listed on 90 waterbodies.
- 275
- reported waterbodies
- 181
- not supporting a use
- 50
- fully supporting
- 78%
- of definitive verdicts impaired
An unassessed waterbody is neither confirmed clean nor confirmed impaired; states assess on multi-year cycles.
Virginia's mid-size register with a heavier not-supporting share
Virginia sits in the middle third by inventory size (275 units) and in the upper third for ruled not-supporting share (78%).
Data updated 2026-08-17
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ATTAINS program, Virginia reported 275 lake-type waterbodies in Virginia in the August 2026 extract. See our methodology for filer attribution and multi-year reporting cycles.
Overall-status mix on Virginia's mid-size inventory
Every reported lake-type unit in Virginia falls into exactly one overall-status bucket. This bar is the inventory partition; the cause chart and national gauge below answer different questions.
Most-listed impairment causes in Virginia
Waterbodies carrying each listed cause, most first
- PCBs in Fish Tissue
PCBs in Fish Tissue
90 waterbodies
- Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved Oxygen
69 waterbodies
- Mercury in Fish Tissue
Mercury in Fish Tissue
54 waterbodies
- Escherichia coli (E. coli) 25
Escherichia coli (E. coli)
25 waterbodies
- pH 12
pH
12 waterbodies
What this shows PCBs in Fish Tissue is the most-listed impairment cause in Virginia, on 90 of the lake-type waterbodies reported there. This ranks the cause names filed in Virginia, not distinct pollutants: PCBs appear under 2 of them, together listed on 90 waterbodies.
Computed share from EPA ATTAINS filed records, not an official EPA rating or safety grade.
Virginia: 78% of ruled verdicts are not-supporting, against a national share of 53%, 1.5× the national rate.
Reporting practice
Nearly all of Virginia's inventory carries a definitive verdict
Each reporting authority decides how much of the water it files to EPA it actually assesses in a cycle. That decision sets the denominator behind every count on this page.
Virginia holds the 30th-largest reported lake-type inventory in the country, 275 assessment units, carrying a definitive verdict on 84% of it. The counts above describe the 231 units carrying a verdict, not all 275 reported. Virginia has also retired 40 lake-type assessment units, superseded filings that are kept on the site but not counted here.
The states reporting at the nearest rates are Mississippi (86%) and Arkansas (81.3%).
Assessing more of an inventory is a reporting choice, set by cycle length, monitoring budget and how finely a state splits its waters into units. It is not a measure of water quality, and it is why a raw count from one state does not sit beside a raw count from another. How assessment coverage varies.
Virginia against every comparable state
Share of reported lake-type waterbodies carrying a definitive verdict
84% 17th of 47 higher than 30 of 47 states
the 47 comparable states, by definitive-verdict share
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycles 1987–2026
Each bar counts states whose definitive-verdict share falls in that 10-point band. The 47 states shown are those reporting at least 25 lake-type units; a share off a smaller inventory is precision the data does not have.
By size
Largest assessed lakes in Virginia
By assessed acreage as reported in ATTAINS. Acreage is the assessed unit's size, which can differ from a lake's full surface area.
| # | Waterbody | Assessed acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kerr Reservoir Assessment unit VAW-L75L_ROA05M22 Not Supporting | 14,828 |
| 2 | Kerr Reservoir Assessment unit VAW-L75L_ROA05L98 Not Supporting | 7,018 |
| 3 | Kerr Reservoir Assessment unit VAW-L75L_ROA05N22 Not Supporting | 4,182 |
| 4 | Lake Drummond Not Supporting | 3,242 |
| 5 | Lake Chesdin Not Supporting | 3,164 |
| 6 | Lake Gaston Not Supporting | 3,072 |
| 7 | Lake Anna Not Supporting | 3,039 |
| 8 | Smith Mtn. Lake (Blackwater River) Not Supporting | 2,461 |
| 9 | Kerr Reservoir Assessment unit VAW-L75L_ROA05O22 Not Supporting | 2,440 |
| 10 | Smith Mtn. Lake (Roanoke River) Assessment unit VAW-L07L_ROA02A10 Not Supporting | 2,435 |
| 11 | Butcher Creek Not Supporting | 2,196 |
| 12 | Smith Mtn. Lake (Roanoke River) Assessment unit VAW-L12L_ROA01A02 Not Supporting | 2,088 |
By cause count
Most-listed waterbodies in Virginia
Waterbodies carrying the most listed impairment causes among the lake-type units reported by Virginia.
| # | Waterbody | Listed causes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Anna/Contrary Creek Not Supporting | 5 |
| 2 | Lake Whitehurst (PWS) Not Supporting | 4 |
| 2 | Western Branch Reservoir Not Supporting | 4 |
| 4 | Bluestone Creek Not Supporting | 3 |
| 4 | Buffalo Creek Not Supporting | 3 |
| 4 | Butcher Creek Not Supporting | 3 |
| 4 | Claytor Lake (New River) Not Supporting | 3 |
| 4 | Dan River Not Supporting | 3 |
| 4 | Fluvanna Ruritan Lake Not Supporting | 3 |
| 4 | Harrison Lake Not Supporting | 3 |
9 of the 10 rows in this table tie on the ranked value: 2 at 4 (rank 2), 7 at 3 (rank 4). 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.
States near Virginia's heavier not-supporting load
Two EPA ATTAINS peer sets outside Virginia. The reporting-practice chart above stays on definitive-verdict share; the neighborhoods below emphasize cross-state nearest neighbors when the not-supporting count is in the upper third.
Comparable register size
Nearest states by lake-type units on the register (275 here).
- North Carolina · 299 units · 24 off
- Alabama · 304 units · 29 off
- Rhode Island · 233 units · 42 off
- Kansas · 328 units · 53 off
Comparable not-supporting counts
Nearest states by units assessed not supporting a use (181 here). Inventory peers above are omitted.
- Oregon · 165 not supporting · 16 off
- California · 202 not supporting · 21 off
- Vermont · 154 not supporting · 27 off
- Oklahoma · 153 not supporting · 28 off
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on EPA ATTAINS register size and not-supporting counts among states with at least 25 reported units. Impairment peers skip states already listed in the inventory column so the two link sets stay distinct.
Using this state picture
- Comparisons across states hold on shares, not counts: 84% of the inventory reported from Virginia carries a definitive verdict, 17th of 47 comparable states. National rankings
- Fish-consumption verdicts here are assessment decisions. Species-level meal advice comes from the state fish-advisory program. Consumption guide
- Browse every named Virginia waterbody with a populated record. Browse waterbodies
PlainLakes renders state assessment decisions and federal gauge observations without modification.
Figures on this page are computed from the assessment decisions Virginia reported to EPA's ATTAINS system and from USGS National Water Information System daily values, no number is typed in by an editor. State counts aggregate every lake-type assessment unit reported by Virginia, including unnamed units that never receive their own page. 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.