Clay County, North Carolina: drinking water report. Clay County – Hayesville – serves about 11,000 residents in the mountains along the Georgia-North…
Clay County – Hayesville – serves about 11,000 residents in the mountains along the Georgia-North Carolina border. Water comes from mountain streams and the Chatuge Reservoir on the Hiwassee River. The county's small population and forested landscape keep water sources clean.
Clay County's mountain watershed produces clean water with no significant contamination concerns. UCMR5 data shows no PFAS detections. According to NC DEQ's 2024 data, systems met all standards.
Clay County's water quality is clean.
Check your water for data. Our water filter guide covers options. Pull your detailed report, and visit our North Carolina page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Clay County, NC.
The EPA places Clay County, NC in Zone 2 - a moderate-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level between 2 and 4 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
32% of homes in Clay County, NC were built before 1980, and 6% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
5 public water systems serving Clay County, NC have EPA lead testing on record. The reported lead sample skews toward systems that already flagged a problem, so its exceedance rate is not directly comparable with other areas. 1 water systems serving Clay County, NC carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 1 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.