Since cleaning up, Lake Hartwell has cleaned up.
In March 2027, Hartwell will host the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, breaking a tie with Lay Lake and the Louisiana Delta for the most championships.
“This is our fifth Classic,” said Neil Paul, executive director of Visit Anderson. “It’s the record for fisheries, not necessarily communities — Birmingham has held more than anybody. No other fishery has had more than five and that puts us in rare air. We’re the first to five.”
Paul, who works with other local officials to make Hartwell and Green Pond Landing and Event Center a premier destination for bass tournaments, received more good news this week. A study ranked Hartwell the third-cleanest lake in the United States, this after being an EPA Superfund Site in the 1980s.
“It’s an honor to be named among the cleanest lakes in the country,” Paul said. “That’s a big deal, and it’s something we need to hang our hat on.”
By analyzing chemical data from the National Water Quality Monitoring Council, an arm of the EPA, Lake.com released its 2025 report ranking the cleanest and dirtiest lakes in the U.S. Factors like dissolved oxygen, lead, phosphorus, sulfate and ammonia were considered.
Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake, earned the nod of cleanest lake in America, with Washington’s Lake Chelan second. After Hartwell, Bassmaster venues among the Top 10 cleanest include Lake of the Ozarks (fourth), Kentucky Lake (seventh), Lake Norman (eighth) and Lake Mead (ninth.)
Lake Okeechobee ranked as the dirtiest U.S. lake because of its higher turbidity and lead levels. Lake Texoma, Oklahoma’s Eufaula, Florida’s Lake George and Oneida Lake also rated among the Top 10 dirtiest.
“We are pleased to find that, generally speaking, large lakes remain very clean and safe to swim and fish in,” Fishbox CEO Serge Selezen said for this report in Travel + Leisure. “Clean water isn’t just about human recreation, it’s about maintaining the delicate balance that keeps our fish populations thriving.”
Paul said Hartwell’s listing is a credit to officials in the Upcountry who realize the valuable resource and work to maintain and improve it.
“It speaks to the ongoing efforts from not only the Corps of Engineers and their management processes, but also to our South Carolina DNR and the efforts they put forward from a conservation standpoint and the work they do monitoring and maintaining our fisheries,” he said. “It’s a credit to the six counties, three in South Carolina and three in Georgia, that touch Lake Hartwell.
“The high standard we set in terms of tournament hosting with conservation in mind — how we treat the fish and the lake itself — speaks to the tremendous work and effort of all the people.”
The 56,000-acre impoundment on the South Carolina-Georgia border hosted two Georgia Invitationals in the ‘90s before receiving a shot at the bigtime with the 2008 Classic. There were facility issues during that event that spurred Matt Schell, parks manager for Anderson County, to get the ball rolling on Green Pond.
“Matt Schell saw the need for a facility that could not only hold something like the Bassmaster Classic,” Paul said, “but something the community could be proud of and use for accessing the lake.”
It is quite the turnaround from early days. PCB contamination affected fish populations and led to fish consumption advisories. Remediations efforts have helped restore the lake’s ecological health.
Paul recounted the first episode of the Bassmasters’ historical look at the sport, “The Cast,” in which BA.S.S. founder Ray Scott lobbied Congress to Save Our Lakes and led to the Clean Water Act of 1972.
“There are scenes of people dumping waste into the waterways. We were one of those lakes,” Paul said. “One of the big reasons that we have a facility like Green Pond is going back to the ‘60s when the lake was contaminated with runoff from industry up the rivers.
“The lake became contaminated, and the PCB settlement with the government had a big hand in the monies that were allocated in sportfish restoration funds.”
With settlement money and federal grants, the county opened Green Pond in time for the 2015 Classic. That top-flight launch facility has since hosted Classics in 2018 and 2022 and most every Bassmaster circuit, including last year’s Team Classic Fish-Off won by Elite rookie sensation Fisher Anaya. Hartwell will host this year’s B.A.S.S. Nation Championship in November, and the 2027 Classic is scheduled for March 19-21.
“Here’s a lake that’s become nationally known by virtue of the number of events and quality of events,” Paul said, “and now we’re being recognized as one of the Top 10 cleanest lakes in America.
“Some people just don’t understand the fact that your anglers are your greatest conservationists. A lot of people equate having a lot of tournaments with dirtying the water. I think this sort of debunks that theory and reinforces that anglers, and even tournament organizations, they continue to be the leaders in conservation.”
