Meets state standards for swimming
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Upper Cape Fear basin
Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake): what state assessments show
No failing determinations on record for the uses assessed.
That covers what the state assessed — not what it hasn't.
Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake) in the Upper Cape Fear basin is tracked by the state as 2 separately assessed stretches (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Supports healthy aquatic life
Can fish and aquatic insects live here?
Tested, but not enough information to decide
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.
Assessed stretches
The state tracks this waterway as 2 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (2)
NC18-7-(11) · NC18-7-(3)
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake) 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 Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake)?
The state's most recent assessment found Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake) meets its standards for swimming. That is a determination about the assessed stretches, not a guarantee about any spot on any day.
Can you eat fish caught in Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake)?
The state has not rated Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake) for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
How current is this assessment?
The most recent reporting cycle on record is 2022. States assess waters under the Clean Water Act on multi-year cycles, so conditions can change between assessments. The sources table shows when this snapshot was retrieved.
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 Upper Cape Fear basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Buckhorn Creek (harris Lake) to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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