Fish here are under a consumption advisory (4 of 5 assessed stretches)
Can I eat fish caught here?
North Carolina · waterway · Lower Yadkin basin
Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake): what state assessments show
Fish here are under a consumption advisory. Does not support healthy aquatic life.
Official state determinations under the Clean Water Act — about the waterway, not measurements taken today.
Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake) in the Lower 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
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
- chlorophyll-a - aquatic life use support (algal growth)
- ph, high (ph/acidity/caustic conditions)
- pcbs - fish consumption advisory (polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs))
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-(114)a · NC12-(114)b1 · NC12-(114)b2 · NC12-(114)b3 · NC12-(124.5)a
What the record doesn’t establish
- Whether Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake) is safe for swimming — the state hasn't assessed it for recreation 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 Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake)?
The state has not rated Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake) for swimming — that's a gap in the record, not a clean result.
Can you eat fish caught in Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake)?
The state has determined fish caught in Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake) are under a consumption advisory (4 of 5 assessed stretches) — it doesn't meet standards for eating the fish caught in it.
Why is Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake) listed as impaired?
State assessments list: chlorophyll-a - aquatic life use support, ph, high, pcbs - fish consumption advisory. 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 Lower Yadkin basin
Go deeper
Search an address near Yadkin River (including Lower Portion of High Rock Lake) to see how it connects — what drains toward it, monitoring-station samples, and permitted operations in its watershed.
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