WHAT’S BEYOND THE TAP

North Carolina · waterway · Saluda basin

S-131: 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.

S-131 in the Saluda 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

Swimming & recreation

Meets state standards for swimming

Is it safe to swim here?

Eating fish caught here

Meets state standards for eating fish

Can I eat fish caught here?

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

  • ph (ph/acidity/caustic conditions)

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)

SCS-131

What the record doesn’t establish

  • 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 S-131?

The state's most recent assessment found S-131 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 S-131?

The state's most recent assessment found S-131 meets its standards for eating fish caught there.

Why is S-131 listed as impaired?

State assessments list: ph. 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 Saluda basin

Go deeper

Search an address near S-131 to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.

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