One site fails Swim Guide test this week

One site in the Upper Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds failed to meet recreational water-quality standards this week: Poole Road canoe launch in Raleigh.

Milburnie and Buffaloe Road launches were not sampled this week.

“We’ve seen pretty good water quality since we started our weekly testing Memorial Day weekend,” said Clay Barber, Sound Rivers’ program director. “A lot of that has to do with the fact we haven’t had much rainfall, so keep in mind the heavy rains some areas are seeing now can wash pollutants in the waterways.”

A Swim Guide fail means elevated levels of fecal bacteria in the water, which can come with increased risk of gastrointestinal illness and skin infections for pets and humans alike.

“If there’s a fail, that means use common sense when recreating on the water: keep your head above water and make sure the water doesn’t come into contact with open wounds.”

Swim Guide is an international water-quality program conducted locally by Sound Rivers, an environmental nonprofit based in Raleigh, New Bern and Washington whose mission to keep North Carolina’s waterways fishable, swimmable and drinkable.

Swim Guide runs from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. Each week, a team of Sound Rivers’ volunteers gathers water samples at more than 50 popular recreation sites from the Piedmont to the Pamlico Sound. Sound Rivers’ staff test samples for E. coli in fresh water and enterococci in salt water and pass/fail results are released to the public, providing an easy way to find out where it’s safe to swim.

Eighteen of the sites are located in the Upper Neuse and Tar-Pamlico river basins: at the Hickory Hill boat ramp, Ledge Rock boat ramp, Beaver Dam Lake day-use area, Rolling View boat ramp, Highway 50 launch and recreation area, Upper Barton Creek boat ramp and Falls of the Neuse canoe launch; canoe launches at Buffaloe Road, Milburnie, and Poole Road in Raleigh; the River Walk and Neuse Golf Club in Clayton; Town Commons Park in Smithfield, and Clubhouse Beach, Clubhouse boat dock, Moccasin Dock, Pavilion Beach and Pavilion boat dock at Lake Royale near Louisburg.

Sound Rivers’ Swim Guide program is sponsored by the Water-Quality Fund in memory of Gene Pate, Grady-White Boats, Public Radio East, Cummins, UNC Lenoir Health Care, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, UNC Pavel Molchanov Scholars, ECU SECU Public Fellows Internship Foundation, City of Greenville, Lake Royale Property Owners Association, Greenville Evening Rotary Club, Melinda Vann and David Silberstein, and Wendy and Tim Wilson.

To sign up for Swim Guide notifications, go to soundrivers.org/swimguide or text “SWIM” to 833-686-5322 for weekly water-quality results. For more information about Sound Rivers, visit soundrivers.org .

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