Meets state standards for swimming
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Upper Little Tennessee basin
Little Tennessee River: 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.
Little Tennessee River in the Upper Little Tennessee basin is tracked by the state as 3 separately assessed stretches (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 (1 of 3 assessed stretches)
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
- 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
The state tracks this waterway as 3 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (3)
GAR060102020101 · NC2-(1)a · NC2-(1)b
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in Little Tennessee River 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 Little Tennessee River?
The state's most recent assessment found Little Tennessee River 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 Little Tennessee River?
The state has not rated Little Tennessee River for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Little Tennessee River listed as impaired?
State assessments list: pathogens. 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 Upper Little Tennessee basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Little Tennessee River to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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