Not safe for swimming (2 of 5 assessed stretches)
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Meherrin basin
North Meherrin River: what state assessments show
Not safe for swimming. Does not support healthy aquatic life.
Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.
North Meherrin River in the Meherrin basin is tracked by the state as 5 separately assessed stretches (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Never assessed — condition unknown
Can I eat fish caught here?
Does not support healthy aquatic life (2 of 5 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
- benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments (cause unknown - impaired biota)
- 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
The state tracks this waterway as 5 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (5)
VAP-K02R_NMR01A98 · VAP-K02R_NMR01B00 · VAP-K02R_NMR01C20 · VAP-K02R_NMR02B04 · VAP-K02R_NMR03A12
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in North Meherrin 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 North Meherrin River?
The state has determined North Meherrin River is not considered safe for swimming (2 of 5 assessed stretches). That is an official Clean Water Act determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.
Can you eat fish caught in North Meherrin River?
The state has not rated North Meherrin River for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is North Meherrin River listed as impaired?
State assessments list: benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments, 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 Meherrin basin
Go deeper
Search an address near North Meherrin River to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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