Not safe for swimming (1 of 2 assessed stretches)
Is it safe to swim here?
North Carolina · waterway · Tuckasegee basin
Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL: what state assessments show
Not safe for swimming.
Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.
Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL in the Tuckasegee 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
- 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
The state tracks this waterway as 2 assessment units — a stretch can fail a standard while another meets it.
Assessment unit IDs (2)
NC2-(78)a · NC2-(89)
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether fish caught in Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL 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 Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL?
The state has determined Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL is not considered safe for swimming (1 of 2 assessed stretches). That is an official Clean Water Act determination about the waterway, not a measurement taken today.
Can you eat fish caught in Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL?
The state has not rated Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL for fish consumption — unknown, not clean.
Why is Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL listed as impaired?
State assessments list: 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 Tuckasegee basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Tuckasegee River Arm of Fontana Lake, Little Tennessee River, Below Elevation 1708 MSL to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
Search an address