What is the Munimetric score for North Carolina?

Munimetric assigns a state-level average MISI score based on the individual scores of all covered community water systems in North Carolina. The state average, band distribution, and market-level rankings are shown on this page. Higher MISI values indicate greater structural stress.

Which water systems in North Carolina face the most infrastructure stress?

The state page ranks the highest-stress systems in North Carolina by MISI score. Stress reflects operational burden, capital gaps, revenue fragility, rate affordability constraints, and governance risk, not a single compliance event. The headline remains a blended structural stress composite rather than a pure physical-condition index. Workflow actions remain reserved for account access.

How does North Carolina compare to other states for drinking water infrastructure risk?

North Carolina is compared against all 50 states and territories using average MISI score, market count, and band distribution. Munimetric tracks nationwide coverage across 9,000+ scored service markets.

Are there lead pipe or corrosion-related concerns in North Carolina water systems?

Where lead and copper rule compliance data is available from EPA SDWA records, Munimetric factors it into the Operational Stress family score. Specific lead service line inventories vary by system. Individual system profiles contain the most detailed compliance context available.

Does Munimetric include PFAS monitoring context for North Carolina water systems?

Munimetric summarizes stored PFAS monitoring context where public contaminant-monitoring records are available. Missing PFAS summaries remain missing records, not non-detections, and this public-record layer does not change the MISI score by itself.

What compliance signals are active in North Carolina?

Munimetric tracks signals such as compliance escalation, monitoring and reporting failures, population decline, income erosion, data staleness, and parent-government fiscal stress across North Carolina water systems.

Does Munimetric track boil water advisories in North Carolina?

Munimetric does not track real-time boil water advisories. For current advisories, contact your local water utility or state drinking water program. Munimetric monitors structural conditions that provide context around system reliability over time.

How many covered systems in North Carolina have recent recorded drinking-water violations?

Stored public records show 146 covered systems with recent drinking-water violations, with 1,006 recorded violations across 276 covered systems in the recent 3 years window.

How does Munimetric summarize PFAS public-record context in North Carolina?

Stored contaminant-monitoring summaries are present for 251 covered systems; 155 systems have PFAS detection context in this state summary.

How does Munimetric summarize lead & copper context in North Carolina?

Stored lead & copper summaries are present for 267 covered systems; 163 systems have violation or action-level context in this state summary.

What source-water types are represented across covered North Carolina systems?

Stored identity records group covered North Carolina systems by source-water type: Surface water: 194, Groundwater: 82.

Where can I find official drinking-water records for North Carolina?

The Official records drawer lists State drinking-water program, State advisories and notices, Public drinking-water profile, Contaminant monitoring records links where currently available for North Carolina.

Is this a real-time statewide tap-water condition rating?

No. This is not a real-time tap-water condition determination. Munimetric summarizes stored public-record context for research and navigation, and this layer does not change MISI.

States / North Carolina

North Carolina

Name: North Carolina Drinking Water Infrastructure Stress Data
Creator: Munimetric
License: https://munimetric.com/terms

North Carolina municipal water system monitoring across 276 scored service markets serving approximately 9.4 million people, with Munimetric scores, stress signals, market rankings, and infrastructure risk context. This state profile highlights what is happening and why it matters using water-system, fiscal, capital, and signal context.

North Carolina has an average MISI infrastructure stress score of 24.9/100 in the Watch band as of 2026-07-03. Public records summarize recent drinking-water violations, PFAS monitoring records, lead and copper context, and source-water mix across 276 covered systems. Updated May 2026.

National context

States sized by scored-market count. Color reflects average stress band.

276Markets scored

24.9Headline composite

~9.4MPop. served

1344Active signals

Band distribution (MISI)

State headline composite

Component of current headline composite

Infrastructure Stress22.2 / 100

Physical, compliance, and capital-execution pressure reflected in the blended headline composite.

Socioeconomic Stress2.5 / 100

Affordability, demand-base, and parent-government fiscal pressure reflected in the blended headline composite.

Observability Stress0.2 / 100

Staleness, disclosure freshness, and reporting-visibility effects reflected in the blended headline composite.

24.9 headline compositeNorth Carolina state composite276 markets~9.4M people served

State interpretation guide

How to read North Carolina headline composite

Plain-language summary

North Carolina currently shows an average MISI headline composite of 24.9 versus a national average of 24.5. In v0.1.2, the headline composite remains a blended structural stress measure rather than a pure physical-condition index. A frozen national reference and a 50 percent single-factor cap reduce the dominance of near-universal and very rare factors, while the component bars continue to separate infrastructure, socioeconomic, and observability readings.

Why this page stands out

276 scored systems are included in this state view, with explicit confidence and source-backed context.
State posture is benchmarked against national averages, not evaluated in isolation.
Top system links below connect state-level findings directly to profile-level diagnostics.

What to do next

Review the executive context to understand the state-level pressure pattern.
Open top system profiles to inspect what is actually driving stress at market level.
Use saved monitoring after research access is enabled to follow high-stress systems over time.

Priority North Carolina paths

Public record layer

Statewide Water Quality Context

Stored public-record context for recent drinking-water violations, contaminant monitoring, and source-water mix across covered systems. This is not a tap-water safety determination and does not change the MISI score.

Systems with recent violations

146 of 276Systems with recent public violation rows.

Source-water mix276 systems

Surface water194
Groundwater82
Purchased water0
Mixed source0
Not stored0

Latest identity snapshot: Mar 1, 2026

Coverage

Violation, enforcement, and compliance-burden counts use the recent 3 years window for dated stored records.
Drinking-water identity snapshots are stored for 273 of 276 included scored systems.
PFAS monitoring summary records are stored for 251 of 276 included systems; missing records are not treated as non-detections.
Lead and copper summary records are stored for 267 of 276 included systems; missing records are not treated as absence of lead/copper context.

Water quality questionsDefinitions and public-record context

How many covered systems in North Carolina have recent recorded drinking-water violations?: Stored public records show 146 covered systems with recent drinking-water violations, with 1,006 recorded violations across 276 covered systems in the recent 3 years window.
How does Munimetric summarize PFAS public-record context in North Carolina?: Stored contaminant-monitoring summaries are present for 251 covered systems; 155 systems have PFAS detection context in this state summary.
How does Munimetric summarize lead & copper context in North Carolina?: Stored lead & copper summaries are present for 267 covered systems; 163 systems have violation or action-level context in this state summary.
What source-water types are represented across covered North Carolina systems?: Stored identity records group covered North Carolina systems by source-water type: Surface water: 194, Groundwater: 82.
Where can I find official drinking-water records for North Carolina?: The Official records drawer lists State drinking-water program, State advisories and notices, Public drinking-water profile, Contaminant monitoring records links where currently available for North Carolina.
Is this a real-time statewide tap-water condition rating?: No. This is not a real-time tap-water condition determination. Munimetric summarizes stored public-record context for research and navigation, and this layer does not change MISI.

Official records

State drinking-water programNorth Carolina Department of Environmental Quality: State drinking-water program home page.
State advisories and noticesNorth Carolina Department of Environmental Quality: Official drinking-water emergency resources with advisory and notice references.
Public drinking-water profileEPA ECHO: Federal drinking-water dashboard and public-record search entry point.
Contaminant monitoring recordsEPA UCMR: Federal contaminant-monitoring program reference and public data entry point.

Methodology/source notes

Methodology/source notesDisplayed from stored public drinking-water records and official program references. This layer does not change MISI.
Enforcement historyEPA ECHO / SDWIS: Violation and enforcement counts are aggregated from stored public compliance records across covered systems.
Contaminant monitoring recordsEPA UCMR: PFAS context uses stored contaminant-monitoring summaries where available; missing records are not treated as non-detections.

Top recent compliance-burden systemsRecent 3 years

System	Population	Source water	Recent violations	Recent enforcement	Public-record flags
Orange-Alamance Water SystemNC0368020	9,223	Surface water	91	94	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, PFAS detections in stored records, lead/copper context
Montgomery County Water SystemNC0362010	14,710	Surface water	38	101	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, PFAS detections in stored records, lead/copper context
Pender County UtilitiesNC7071011	31,600	Surface water	25	78	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, PFAS detections in stored records, lead/copper context
Dan River Water IncNC0279040	12,000	Surface water	25	57	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, lead/copper context
Wallace, Town OfNC0431010	5,825	Groundwater	23	96	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, lead/copper context
Valdese, Town OfNC0112010	13,571	Surface water	22	162	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, lead/copper context
Anson County Water SystemNC0304010	13,880	Surface water	20	99	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, PFAS detections in stored records, lead/copper context
Franklin County Water & SewerNC0235030	26,060	Surface water	17	43	recent violations recorded, recent enforcement history, recent monitoring/reporting failures, lead/copper context

This is not a real-time tap-water condition determination. For current advisories or health guidance, consult the utility or state drinking-water program.

Executive context

What This Page Shows

276 of the community drinking-water systems in North Carolina are currently scored. Analytics below are calculated from this covered subset only. Covered systems serve approximately 9.4M people.

What the Data Suggests

North Carolina has 276 scored service markets in the Munimetric coverage set, covering roughly 9.4 million residents in total. At the latest reading, the state-level average lands at 24.9 out of 100, indicating early but meaningful signs of structural stress in aggregate. A relatively small share — roughly 4% — currently sit in elevated-stress bands.

Across state markets, Operational Stress stands out as the dominant contributor to headline stress (12.5 points average), with Capex Pressure a distant second at 9.2. That pattern suggests a particular kind of pressure — concentrated rather than broadly distributed.

1344 active signals are recorded across state markets. The most prevalent is Current Drought Severity, affecting 276 markets.

State-level average stress has been relatively steady between recent observation periods, suggesting the current picture reflects persistent conditions rather than a sudden shift.

This summary is based on structured, source-backed public data and is intended for research and monitoring only. It is not investment advice, a credit opinion, or municipal advisory guidance.

Score was 25.1 in Jul → 24.9 in Jul: -0.2 from Operational Stress family

Recent Movement

Latest average MISI is 24.9 as of Jul 3, 2026. Movement since Jul 2, 2026 is -0.2.

Compact summary from 68 stored state observations.

State Family Contribution Summary

Operational Stress12.5 / 20.0

Capex Pressure9.2 / 20.0

Revenue Fragility2.5 / 20.0

Governance Risk0.7 / 20.0

Rate Constraint0.0 / 20.0

Signals

Signal Frequency

Signal	Severity	Markets affected	% of scored
Current Drought Severity	high	276	100%
Climate Hazard Exposure	high	254	92%
Compliance Escalation	high	189	68%
Lead & Copper Rule Risk	high	163	59%
PFAS Contamination Risk	high	155	56%
Population Served Decline	high	70	25%
Infrastructure Capital Gap	high	67	24%
High-AGI Out-Migration	high	46	17%
Parent-Government Fiscal Stress	high	37	13%
Days Cash on Hand	high	36	13%
Monitoring / Reporting Failures	medium	31	11%
Utility Data Staleness	high	9	3%
Rapid Score Deterioration	high	4	1%
Project Status Staleness	medium	2	1%
SRF Dependence Spike	high	2	1%
Housing Market Weakness	low	2	1%
Formal Enforcement Obligations	high	1	0%

Markets

Top Markets

#	Market	Score	Band	Population	Signals
1	Lumberton	52.9	Fragile	20K	8
2	Robeson County Water System	49.0	Fragile	65K	7
3	Wallace, Town of	48.8	Fragile	6K	8
4	Red Springs, Town of	45.3	Fragile	4K	8
5	Kinston	45.3	Fragile	21K	9
6	Anson County Water System	44.4	Fragile	14K	8
7	Greenville Utilities Comm	44.0	Fragile	103K	8
8	Wayne Water Districts	43.0	Fragile	39K	8
9	Northampton--Milwaukee	42.8	Fragile	6K	7
10	Southern Wayne Sanitary Dist	41.0	Fragile	8K	7
11	Fayetteville	41.0	Fragile	216K	8
12	Spring Lake, Town of	40.1	Fragile	12K	7
13	Brunswick County Water System	40.0	Watch	142K	6
14	Cliffdale West	38.9	Watch	15K	7
15	Brookwood Comm Wtr System	38.7	Watch	15K	7
16	Columbus Co Water District Ii	38.6	Watch	10K	6
17	Hamlet Water System	38.5	Watch	11K	8
18	Farmville, Town of	38.5	Watch	9K	6
19	Orange-Alamance Water System	38.0	Watch	9K	7
20	High Point, City of	37.6	Watch	118K	8

Comparison

State Comparison

National average: 24.5

Rank	State	Avg Score	Band	Markets	Delta vs State
23	Maryland	25.2	Watch	78	+0.3
24	Colorado	25.1	Watch	174	+0.2
25	North Carolina	24.9	Watch	276	+0.0
26	Delaware	24.3	Watch	34	-0.5
27	Mississippi	24.3	Watch	208	-0.6

Analytical posture

State Stress Analytics

Score Distribution

Distribution of scored market scores with the state average overlay.

276 markets plotted.

Stress vs Population

Each point is a scored market; tooltip reveals market-level context.

266 markets plotted.

Population View

People served by community water systems in North Carolina, colored by stress band.

~9.4M people served by 276 systems in North Carolina

Stable

Watch

Fragile

High Stress

Critical

276 scored systems · colored by stress band

Peer Constellation

Select a market to see its nearest peers by score similarity.

Center market:

24 nearest peers by score distance.

Score Trend

Latest

24.9

Trend

+21.1

Observations

Extended layers

Advanced State Context

Priority views, detailed registers, and methodology supporting the analytical core above.

Markets & signals

Priority Views

#	Market	Score	Band	Population	Signals
1	Lumberton	52.9	Fragile	20K	8
2	Robeson County Water System	49.0	Fragile	65K	7
3	Wallace, Town of	48.8	Fragile	6K	8
4	Red Springs, Town of	45.3	Fragile	4K	8
5	Kinston	45.3	Fragile	21K	9
6	Anson County Water System	44.4	Fragile	14K	8
7	Greenville Utilities Comm	44.0	Fragile	103K	8
8	Wayne Water Districts	43.0	Fragile	39K	8
9	Northampton--Milwaukee	42.8	Fragile	6K	7
10	Southern Wayne Sanitary Dist	41.0	Fragile	8K	7
11	Fayetteville	41.0	Fragile	216K	8
12	Spring Lake, Town of	40.1	Fragile	12K	7
13	Brunswick County Water System	40.0	Watch	142K	6
14	Cliffdale West	38.9	Watch	15K	7
15	Brookwood Comm Wtr System	38.7	Watch	15K	7
16	Columbus Co Water District Ii	38.6	Watch	10K	6
17	Hamlet Water System	38.5	Watch	11K	8
18	Farmville, Town of	38.5	Watch	9K	6
19	Orange-Alamance Water System	38.0	Watch	9K	7
20	High Point, City of	37.6	Watch	118K	8

Detailed records

Registers

#	Market	Score	Band	Population	Signals
1	Lumberton	52.9	Fragile	20K	8
2	Robeson County Water System	49.0	Fragile	65K	7
3	Wallace, Town of	48.8	Fragile	6K	8
4	Red Springs, Town of	45.3	Fragile	4K	8
5	Kinston	45.3	Fragile	21K	9
6	Anson County Water System	44.4	Fragile	14K	8
7	Greenville Utilities Comm	44.0	Fragile	103K	8
8	Wayne Water Districts	43.0	Fragile	39K	8
9	Northampton--Milwaukee	42.8	Fragile	6K	7
10	Southern Wayne Sanitary Dist	41.0	Fragile	8K	7
11	Fayetteville	41.0	Fragile	216K	8
12	Spring Lake, Town of	40.1	Fragile	12K	7
13	Brunswick County Water System	40.0	Watch	142K	6
14	Cliffdale West	38.9	Watch	15K	7
15	Brookwood Comm Wtr System	38.7	Watch	15K	7
16	Columbus Co Water District Ii	38.6	Watch	10K	6
17	Hamlet Water System	38.5	Watch	11K	8
18	Farmville, Town of	38.5	Watch	9K	6
19	Orange-Alamance Water System	38.0	Watch	9K	7
20	High Point, City of	37.6	Watch	118K	8

Munimetric tracks infrastructure stress across 276 community drinking-water systems in North Carolina, covering compliance conditions, capital needs, revenue and rate pressure, and governance risk. Use this page to research which systems face the highest structural stress and how North Carolina compares nationally.

Which water systems in North Carolina face the most infrastructure stress?: The highest-stress systems in North Carolina are ranked by MISI score above. Stress reflects operational burden, capital gaps, revenue fragility, rate affordability constraints, and governance risk—not a single compliance event. In v0.1.2, the headline composite remains a blended structural stress measure rather than a pure physical-condition index. A frozen national reference and a 50 percent single-factor cap reduce the dominance of near-universal and very rare factors, while the component bars continue to separate infrastructure, socioeconomic, and observability readings.
How does North Carolina compare to other states for drinking water infrastructure risk?: North Carolina is compared against all 50 states and territories using average MISI score, market count, and band distribution. The state comparison table above shows where North Carolina ranks nationally and how its average score compares.
Are there lead pipe or corrosion-related concerns in North Carolina water systems?: Where lead and copper rule compliance data is available from EPA SDWA records, Munimetric factors it into the Operational Stress family. Specific lead service line inventories vary by system. Individual system profiles contain the most detailed compliance context available.
What compliance signals are active in North Carolina?: Munimetric tracks signals such as compliance escalation, monitoring and reporting failures, data staleness, and financial stress indicators across North Carolina systems. The signal frequency table above summarizes which signals are most prevalent statewide.
Does Munimetric track boil water advisories in North Carolina?: Munimetric does not track real-time boil water advisories. For current advisories, contact your local water utility or state drinking water program. Munimetric monitors structural conditions—compliance posture, infrastructure stress, and governance risk—that provide broader context around system reliability.

Keep monitoring this state

Research access covers saved monitoring, alerts, recurring briefs, and team review.

Get the Water Stress Brief Request research access

Water Infrastructure in North Carolina

Munimetric tracks infrastructure stress across 276 community drinking-water systems in North Carolina. Each system receives a Munimetric Infrastructure Stress Index (MISI) score from 0 to 100, calculated across five risk families: Operational Stress, Capex Pressure, Revenue Fragility, Rate Constraint, and Governance Risk. Higher scores indicate more structural stress. Scores are source-backed and deterministic, drawing from EPA SDWA compliance records, American Community Survey demographic and economic data, FEMA National Risk Index hazard profiles, and state financial disclosures.

State-level monitoring shows which systems face the highest structural stress, how North Carolina compares against other states nationally, and which monitoring signals are most active across the state. Each individual system profile includes compliance history, score family drivers, peer rankings within population-based cohorts where safeguards pass, and public source context. Full provenance cards and source workbench views remain workflow-gated. Munimetric covers community water systems across all 50 states and territories. This is structural risk research—not a water quality rating, advisory feed, or credit rating. Updated May 2026.

The statewide public-record layer adds drinking-water violation categories, PFAS monitoring summaries where stored, lead and copper context, source-water mix, and official record links across covered systems. These records help explain water-system context alongside infrastructure stress without turning Munimetric into a tap-water safety determination.

What is the Munimetric score for North Carolina?: Munimetric assigns a state-level average MISI score based on the individual scores of all covered community water systems in North Carolina. The state average, band distribution, and market-level rankings are shown on this page. Higher MISI values indicate greater structural stress.
Which water systems in North Carolina face the most infrastructure stress?: The state page ranks the highest-stress systems in North Carolina by MISI score. Stress reflects operational burden, capital gaps, revenue fragility, rate affordability constraints, and governance risk, not a single compliance event. The headline remains a blended structural stress composite rather than a pure physical-condition index. Workflow actions remain reserved for account access.
How does North Carolina compare to other states for drinking water infrastructure risk?: North Carolina is compared against all 50 states and territories using average MISI score, market count, and band distribution. Munimetric tracks nationwide coverage across 9,000+ scored service markets.
Are there lead pipe or corrosion-related concerns in North Carolina water systems?: Where lead and copper rule compliance data is available from EPA SDWA records, Munimetric factors it into the Operational Stress family score. Specific lead service line inventories vary by system. Individual system profiles contain the most detailed compliance context available.
Does Munimetric include PFAS monitoring context for North Carolina water systems?: Munimetric summarizes stored PFAS monitoring context where public contaminant-monitoring records are available. Missing PFAS summaries remain missing records, not non-detections, and this public-record layer does not change the MISI score by itself.
What compliance signals are active in North Carolina?: Munimetric tracks signals such as compliance escalation, monitoring and reporting failures, population decline, income erosion, data staleness, and parent-government fiscal stress across North Carolina water systems.
Does Munimetric track boil water advisories in North Carolina?: Munimetric does not track real-time boil water advisories. For current advisories, contact your local water utility or state drinking water program. Munimetric monitors structural conditions that provide context around system reliability over time.