Tested, but not enough information to decide
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Lower Yadkin basin
Abbotts Creek: what state assessments show
Does not support healthy aquatic life.
Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.
Abbotts Creek in the Lower Yadkin basin is tracked by the state as 3 separately assessed stretches (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Does not support healthy aquatic life
Can fish and aquatic insects live here?
A use the state didn't report is omitted rather than shown as passing. "Never assessed" means unknown — never clean.
Listed causes
- fish bioassessments (cause unknown - impaired biota)
- total suspended solids (tss) (turbidity)
- turbidity
- benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments (cause unknown - impaired biota)
A listed cause names what the assessment found in the water. It is not an attribution to any specific facility or source.
Assessed stretches
The state tracks this waterway as 3 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (3)
NC12-119-(1) · NC12-119-(6)a · NC12-119-(6)b
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in Abbotts Creek are safe to eat — no fish-consumption assessment on record here.
- What today's water looks like — assessments are determinations made on multi-year cycles, not live measurements.
Common questions
Is it safe to swim in Abbotts Creek?
The state has not rated Abbotts Creek for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.
Can you eat fish caught in Abbotts Creek?
The state has not rated Abbotts Creek for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Abbotts Creek listed as impaired?
State assessments list: fish bioassessments, total suspended solids (tss), turbidity, benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments. A listed cause names the problem the assessment found — it does not attribute it to any specific source.
Sources
| Dataset | Agency version | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|
| EPA/state ATTAINS waterway assessments | ATTAINS_Assessment ArcGIS snapshot (gispub.epa.gov) | 2026-08-15 |
| ATTAINS waterway geometry | ATTAINS_Assessment ArcGIS lines + areas (gispub.epa.gov) | 2026-08-16 |
| USGS watershed boundaries | USGS WBD via National Map MapServer | 2026-08-15 |
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.
Also in the Lower Yadkin basin
Uwharrie RiverYadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake)Yadkin River (including Tuckertown Lake, Badin Lake)Yadkin River (including Upper Portion of High Rock Lake Below Normal Operating Level)Rich ForkAbbotts Creek Arm of High Rock LakeGrants CreekHamby CreekLick CreekSecond Creek Arm of High Rock Lake
Go deeper
Search an address near Abbotts Creek to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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