Tested, but not enough information to decide
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · South Yadkin basin
South Yadkin 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 Yadkin River in the South Yadkin basin is tracked by the state as 5 separately assessed stretches (most recent cycle: 2022). Below is every designated-use determination on record — and what hasn't been assessed.
Designated uses
Meets state standards for eating fish
Can I eat fish caught here?
Does not support healthy aquatic life (2 of 5 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
- total suspended solids (tss) (turbidity)
- turbidity
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 5 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (5)
NC12-108-(14.5) · NC12-108-(19.5)a · NC12-108-(19.5)b · NC12-108-(5.5)a · NC12-108-(5.5)b
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 South Yadkin River?
The state has not rated South Yadkin River for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.
Can you eat fish caught in South Yadkin River?
The state's most recent assessment found South Yadkin River meets its standards for eating fish caught there.
Why is South Yadkin River listed as impaired?
State assessments list: total suspended solids (tss), turbidity. 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 South Yadkin basin
Go deeper
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