Meets state standards for swimming
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Tugaloo basin
Rabun Lake: 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.
Rabun Lake in the Tugaloo 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?
Meets standards as a drinking-water source
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)
- selenium in fish tissue (metals (other than 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)
GAR030601020110
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in Rabun Lake 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 Rabun Lake?
The state's most recent assessment found Rabun Lake 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 Rabun Lake?
The state has not rated Rabun Lake for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Rabun Lake listed as impaired?
State assessments list: mercury in fish tissue, selenium in fish tissue. 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 Tugaloo basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Rabun Lake to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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