WHAT’S BEYOND THE TAP

North Carolina · county

Water quality in Halifax County, North Carolina

Two things here need attention.

Two things could not be determined from the record.

Public records for Halifax County cover 70 named waterways across 40 sub-watersheds, and 12 active water systems serving about 44,334 people. Below is what those records establish — and what they don't.

70waterways on record
4not considered safe for swimming
3under fish-consumption advisories
25never assessed at all
12water systems
2with an unresolved health-based violation

What the records flag

Needs attention

Lizard 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
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
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
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
Lizard CreekNot considered safeNot assessedDISSOLVED OXYGEN, ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)
Butterwood CreekNot assessedNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS, DISSOLVED OXYGEN
Fishing CreekMeets the standardNot assessedBENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS
Lake GastonOn record, no conclusionNot considered safeMERCURY IN FISH TISSUE, PCBS IN FISH TISSUE
Pea Hill CreekNot considered safeNot assessedESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)
UT to Beech SwampNot assessedOn record, no conclusionZINC
UT to Deep CreekMeets the standardNot assessedTURBIDITY
Bear SwampNot assessedNot assessed
Beech SwampNot assessedNot assessed
Breeches SwampNot assessedNot assessed
Burnt Coat SwampNot assessedNot assessed
Chockoyotte CreekNot assessedNot assessed

Showing 12 of 70 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
Halifax Co--Halifax20,25000
Roanoke Rapids Sanitary Dist15,63000
Town of Scotland Neck2,76100
Enfield Water System1,77500
Town of Littleton1,54000
Weldon Water System1,37500
Town of Hobgood66500
Town of Halifax17822
Chaddy`s Big Hat Restaurant6011
Koa-Enfield/rocky Mount5000
Dot-Halifax Co Weigh ST NBL2500
Dot-Halifax Co Weigh ST SBL2500

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

  • 25 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 Halifax 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: 12 active water systems serve Halifax 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 Halifax County are not considered safe for swimming?

State assessments under the Clean Water Act list Lizard Creek, Pea Hill Creek, Beaverpond Creek, Fontaine Creek (aka Fountains Creek) as not supporting recreation. That is an official determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.

51 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 Halifax County report