Two things could not be determined from the record.
Public records for Henderson County cover 103 named waterways across 28 sub-watersheds, and 106 active water systems serving about 94,234 people. Below is what those records establish — and what they don't.
103waterways on record
6not considered safe for swimming
0under fish-consumption advisories
17never assessed at all
106water systems
13with an unresolved health-based violation
What the records flag
Needs attention
Cane 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
FECAL COLIFORM
Official determination, waterway near you · U.S. EPA / state agency — ATTAINS assessed waters
BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS, FISH BIOASSESSMENTS
Showing 12 of 103 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.
Showing the 12 largest of 106 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 Henderson 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: 106 active water systems serve Henderson County. 13 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 Henderson County are not considered safe for swimming?
State assessments under the Clean Water Act list Cane Creek, S-004, FRENCH BROAD RIVER, Hominy Creek, RS-13125 and 1 more as not supporting recreation. That is an official determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.
88 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.
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.