WHAT’S BEYOND THE TAP

North Carolina · county

Water quality in Granville County, North Carolina

Two things here need attention.

Two things could not be determined from the record.

Public records for Granville County cover 93 named waterways across 28 sub-watersheds, and 51 active water systems serving about 33,178 people. Below is what those records establish — and what they don't.

93waterways on record
5not considered safe for swimming
3under fish-consumption advisories
17never assessed at all
51water systems
2with an unresolved health-based violation

What the records flag

Needs attention

Beech Creek 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
BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS
Listed cause
ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)

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

Needs attention

Fish from 3 nearby waterways are under consumption advisories

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
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
Listed cause
MERCURY IN FISH TISSUE
Listed cause
PCBS IN FISH TISSUE

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

Rivers, creeks & lakes

WaterwaySwimmingEating the fishListed causes
Beech CreekNot considered safeNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS, ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)
Kerr ReservoirOn record, no conclusionNot considered safeDISSOLVED OXYGEN, MERCURY IN FISH TISSUE
Aarons CreekNot considered safeMeets the standardESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)
Beaverdam Creek (Beaverdam Creek Reservoir below normal pool elevation)Not assessedNot assessedCHLOROPHYLL-A - AQUATIC LIFE USE SUPPORT
Big Bluewing CreekMeets the standardNot assessedDISSOLVED OXYGEN
Dan RiverNot assessedNot considered safeMERCURY IN FISH TISSUE, PCBS IN FISH TISSUE
Fishing CreekOn record, no conclusionNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS
Flat RiverMeets the standardNot assessedDISSOLVED OXYGEN
Flat River (including the Flat River Arm of Falls Lake)Meets the standardNot assessedDISSOLVED OXYGEN
Island Creek (Island Creek Reservoir)Not assessedNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS
Knap of Reeds CreekMeets the standardNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS, ZINC
Ledge Creek (Lake Rogers)Not assessedNot assessedCHLOROPHYLL-A - AQUATIC LIFE USE SUPPORT

Showing 12 of 93 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
South Granville Wtr&sewer Authority18,55500
City of Oxford8,97200
Town of Stovall45011
New Hope Granville Bapt Church30000
ST Matthew Missionary Baptist Church27000
Ilong Baptist Church25000
Hawkins Chapel Baptist Church25000
Granville Family Park23200
Hester Baptist Church20000
Woodland Baptist Church20000
Granville Athletic Park #220000
Granville Athletic Park #120000

Showing the 12 largest of 51 active systems serving the county. 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

  • 17 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 Granville 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: 51 active water systems serve Granville 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 Granville County are not considered safe for swimming?

State assessments under the Clean Water Act list Beech Creek, Aarons Creek, North Fork Aarons Creek, Hyco River, Mayo Creek as not supporting recreation. That is an official determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.

68 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 Granville County report