Fish here are under a consumption advisory
Can I eat fish caught here?
North Carolina · waterway · Upper Neuse basin
Rocky Branch: 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.
Rocky Branch in the Upper Neuse basin is tracked by the state as 2 separately assessed stretches (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Supports 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
- pcbs - fish consumption advisory (polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs))
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 2 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (2)
NC27-34-6a · NC27-34-6b
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether Rocky Branch 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 Rocky Branch?
The state has not rated Rocky Branch for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.
Can you eat fish caught in Rocky Branch?
The state has determined fish caught in Rocky Branch are under a consumption advisory — it doesn't meet standards for eating the fish caught in it.
Why is Rocky Branch listed as impaired?
State assessments list: pcbs - fish consumption advisory. 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 Neuse basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Rocky Branch to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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