Does not support healthy aquatic life
Can fish and aquatic insects live here?
North Carolina · waterway · Upper Pee Dee basin
Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels): 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.
Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) in the Upper Pee Dee 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
A use the state didn't report is omitted rather than shown as passing. "Never assessed" means unknown — never clean.
Listed causes
- chlorophyll-a - aquatic life use support (algal growth)
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)
NC13-(26.5)
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) is safe for swimming — the state hasn't assessed it for recreation here.
- Whether fish caught in Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) 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 Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels)?
The state has not rated Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.
Can you eat fish caught in Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels)?
The state has not rated Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) listed as impaired?
State assessments list: chlorophyll-a - aquatic life use support. 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 Pee Dee basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Pee Dee River (including Blewett Falls Lake Below Normal Operating Levels) to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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