Since I am moving to Raleigh, I am going to hit up the MST more often. I was wondering if the lakes and streams on the NC Piedmont have realiable water. Seeing that its flatter with more farm land and communities near the trail, would the water be too contaminated for filtering or treating?

Then for the water around the coastline, how hard is it to find fresh water sources? Is salinity present in all sources near the coast and on the coast, and will need to plan water caches or carrying in water?