Meets state standards for swimming
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Upper New basin
South Fork New River: 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.
South Fork New River in the Upper New basin is tracked by the state as 6 separately assessed stretches (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Does not support healthy aquatic life (1 of 6 assessed stretches)
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
- benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments (cause unknown - impaired biota)
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 6 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (6)
NC10-1-(20.5) · NC10-1-(26)a · NC10-1-(26)b · NC10-1-(3.5)a · NC10-1-(3.5)b · NC10-1-(33.5)
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in South Fork New River 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 South Fork New River?
The state's most recent assessment found South Fork New River 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 South Fork New River?
The state has not rated South Fork New River for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is South Fork New River listed as impaired?
State assessments list: benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments. 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 South Fork New River to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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