WHAT’S BEYOND THE TAP

North Carolina · waterway · Nottoway basin

Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area): what state assessments show

Fish here are under a consumption advisory.

Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.

Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area) in the Nottoway 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

Swimming & recreation

Never assessed — condition unknown

Is it safe to swim here?

Eating fish caught here

Fish here are under a consumption advisory

Can I eat fish caught here?

Aquatic life

Supports healthy aquatic life

Can fish and aquatic insects live here?

Use as a drinking-water source

Never assessed — condition unknown

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

  • mercury in fish tissue (mercury)

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)

VAT-K28R_NTW02A00

What the record doesn’t establish

  • Whether Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area) is safe for swimming — the state hasn't assessed it for recreation 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 Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area)?

The state has not rated Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area) for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.

Can you eat fish caught in Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area)?

The state has determined fish caught in Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area) are under a consumption advisory — it doesn't meet standards for eating the fish caught in it.

Why is Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area) listed as impaired?

State assessments list: mercury in fish tissue. A listed cause names the problem the assessment found — it does not attribute it to any specific source.

Sources

DatasetAgency versionRetrieved
EPA/state ATTAINS waterway assessmentsATTAINS_Assessment ArcGIS snapshot (gispub.epa.gov)2026-08-15
ATTAINS waterway geometryATTAINS_Assessment ArcGIS lines + areas (gispub.epa.gov)2026-08-16
USGS watershed boundariesUSGS WBD via National Map MapServer2026-08-15

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 Nottoway basin

Go deeper

Search an address near Nottoway River - Middle (pws Area) to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.

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