WHAT’S BEYOND THE TAP

North Carolina · waterway · Tugaloo basin

Reed Creek: 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.

Reed Creek 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

Aquatic life

Does not support healthy aquatic life

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

One assessment unit covers this waterway here.

Assessment unit IDs (1)

GAR030601020504

What the record doesn’t establish

  • Whether Reed Creek is safe for swimming — the state hasn't assessed it for recreation here.
  • Whether fish caught in Reed Creek 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 Reed Creek?

The state has not rated Reed Creek for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.

Can you eat fish caught in Reed Creek?

The state has not rated Reed Creek for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.

Why is Reed Creek 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

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 Tugaloo basin

Go deeper

Search an address near Reed Creek to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.

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