WHAT’S BEYOND THE TAP

North Carolina · county

Water quality in Anson County, North Carolina

Two things here need attention.

Two things could not be determined from the record.

Public records for Anson County cover 52 named waterways across 28 sub-watersheds, and 8 active water systems serving about 23,837 people. Below is what those records establish — and what they don't.

52waterways on record
3not considered safe for swimming
1under fish-consumption advisories
9never assessed at all
8water systems
2with an unresolved health-based violation

What the records flag

Needs attention

PD-339 is not considered safe for swimming

A state determination under the Clean Water Act. This is one of several assessed waterways in the area you searched — search a street address to see which waters connect to you.

Listed cause
ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)

Official determination, waterway near you · U.S. EPA / state agency — ATTAINS assessed waters

Needs attention

Fish from PEE DEE RIVER (including Lake Tillery below normal operating levels) are under a consumption advisory

The state has determined this water doesn't meet standards for eating the fish caught in it. It's close to you, but your water doesn't flow from it.

Listed cause
PCBS - FISH CONSUMPTION ADVISORY
Listed cause
PH, HIGH

Official determination, waterway near you · U.S. EPA / state agency — ATTAINS assessed waters

Rivers, creeks & lakes

WaterwaySwimmingEating the fishListed causes
PEE DEE RIVER (including Lake Tillery below normal operating levels)Meets the standardNot considered safePCBS - FISH CONSUMPTION ADVISORY, PH, HIGH
Beaverdam CreekNot assessedNot assessedCOPPER
Brown CreekOn record, no conclusionNot assessedFISH BIOASSESSMENTS, BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS
Clarks CreekNot assessedNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS
Hardy CreekNot assessedNot assessedFISH BIOASSESSMENTS
Lanes CreekOn record, no conclusionNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS, DISSOLVED OXYGEN
PD-339Not considered safeNot assessedESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)
PD-641Not assessedNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES
PD-673Not assessedNot assessedPH
PEE DEE RIVERMeets the standardNot assessedTURBIDITY
PEE DEE RIVER (including Blewett Falls Lake below normal operating levels)Not assessedNot assessedCHLOROPHYLL-A - AQUATIC LIFE USE SUPPORT
Richardson CreekOn record, no conclusionNot assessedCOPPER

Showing 12 of 52 waterways on record — the full report has all of them. "Not considered safe" is a state determination under the Clean Water Act, not a measurement taken today. "Not assessed" means unknown — never clean.

Drinking water systems

SystemServesHealth-based violations since 2021Without recorded resolution
Anson County Water System13,88000
Town of Wadesboro5,60800
Ansonville Water System1,26200
Lilesville Water System90022
Polkton Water System83800
Peachland Water System77000
Morven Water System51211
Polkton - South6700

Health-based violations are shown alone — administrative (paperwork) records are counted separately and never added in, because most violation records are paperwork.

What the record doesn’t establish

  • 9 nearby waterways have never been assessed — their condition is unknown.
  • Whether your home's own plumbing adds lead or copper — no dataset covers indoor pipes.

Common questions

Is tap water safe to drink in Anson County?

No public dataset can establish that any tap is safe or unsafe — records have gaps, lag by up to a quarter, and say nothing about a building's own plumbing or private wells.

What the records do show: 8 active water systems serve Anson County. 2 of them currently have an unresolved health-based violation on record. Health-based violations are counted separately from paperwork violations, which make up most records.

Which waterways in Anson County are not considered safe for swimming?

State assessments under the Clean Water Act list PD-339, Goose Creek, PD-333 as not supporting recreation. That is an official determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.

36 of the county's waterways on record have never been assessed for swimming — their condition is unknown.

How current is this data?

Datasets refresh on their agencies' cycles — EPA drinking-water records quarterly, state waterway assessments roughly every two years. The sources table on this page lists the version and retrieval date of every dataset used.

Sources

DatasetAgency versionRetrieved
EPA/state ATTAINS waterway assessmentsATTAINS_Assessment ArcGIS snapshot (gispub.epa.gov)2026-08-15
ATTAINS waterway geometryATTAINS_Assessment ArcGIS lines + areas (gispub.epa.gov)2026-08-16
Census TIGER county boundariesCensus TIGERweb Counties (current vintage)2026-08-16
NC DEQ PFAS monitoringNC DEQ DWR EQuIS export, samples through 2025-07-292026-08-17
Census TIGER place boundariesCensus TIGERweb Places (Incorporated + CDP, current vintage)2026-08-16
EPA water system service areasEPA PWS Service Areas v3 (hosted layer, item 80c6912ef14f46e480f5afd807767b4b)2026-08-15
EPA Safe Drinking Water Act compliance recordsECHO SDWA quarterly bulk download2026-08-16
EPA standards & benchmarks2026-08 curation2026-08-15
EPA UCMR5 PFAS monitoringUCMR5 occurrence data (collections through 2025-12-10)2026-08-15
USGS watershed boundariesUSGS WBD via National Map MapServer2026-08-15

Records lag their agencies' refresh cycles — a recent change may not appear yet. Absence from a dataset is absence of a record, never evidence that water is clean.

Go deeper

The interactive report adds the map, monitoring-station samples, permitted operations in connected watersheds, and plain-language explanations of every term.

See the full Anson County report