Not safe for swimming
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Middle Roanoke basin
Big Otter River: what state assessments show
Not safe for swimming.
Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.
Big Otter River in the Middle Roanoke basin is tracked by the state as a single assessed stretch (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Tested, but not enough information to decide
Can I eat fish caught here?
Supports healthy aquatic life
Can fish and aquatic insects live here?
Meets standards as a drinking-water source
Can this water be used as a drinking-water supply?
A use the state didn't report is omitted rather than shown as passing. "Never assessed" means unknown — never clean.
Listed causes
- escherichia coli (e. coli) (pathogens)
A listed cause names what the assessment found in the water. It is not an attribution to any specific facility or source.
Assessed stretches
One assessment unit covers this waterway here.
Assessment unit IDs (1)
VAW-L28R_BOR01A00
What the record doesn’t establish
- 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 Big Otter River?
The state has determined Big Otter River is not considered safe for swimming. That is an official Clean Water Act determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.
Can you eat fish caught in Big Otter River?
The state has not rated Big Otter River for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Big Otter River listed as impaired?
State assessments list: escherichia coli (e. coli). 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 Middle Roanoke basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Big Otter River to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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