Never assessed — condition unknown
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Watauga, North Carolina, Tennessee basin
Forge 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.
Forge Creek in the Watauga, North Carolina, Tennessee basin is tracked by the state as a single assessed stretch (most recent cycle: 2024). 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
- alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers (habitat alterations)
- sedimentation/siltation (sediment)
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)
TN06010103034_0400
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether Forge Creek is safe for swimming — the state hasn't assessed it for recreation here.
- Whether fish caught in Forge 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 Forge Creek?
The state has not rated Forge Creek for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.
Can you eat fish caught in Forge Creek?
The state has not rated Forge Creek for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Forge Creek listed as impaired?
State assessments list: alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers, sedimentation/siltation. 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 Watauga, North Carolina, Tennessee basin
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