Not safe for swimming
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Upper New basin
Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary: what state assessments show
Not safe for swimming.
Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.
Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary in the Upper New 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
Never assessed — condition unknown
Can I eat fish caught here?
Never assessed — condition unknown
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
- escherichia coli (e. coli) (pathogens)
- fecal coliform (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)
VAS-N08R_XEE01A06
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary 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 Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary?
The state has determined Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary is not considered safe for swimming. That is an official Clean Water Act determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.
Can you eat fish caught in Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary?
The state has not rated Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary listed as impaired?
State assessments list: escherichia coli (e. coli), fecal coliform. 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 New basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Shorts Creek Unnamed Tributary to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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