SWIM GUIDE SAMPLING
Swim Guide delivers free real-time water quality information for over 7,000 beaches, lakes, rivers, and swimming holes in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the Bahamas, Ireland, France, New Zealand, and Australia. It helps you easily find your closest beaches, know at a glance which ones are safe for swimming, and share your love of beaches with friends and family.
Created and managed by Swim Drink Fish Canada (formerly Lake Ontario Waterkeeper), Swim Guide can be used by any public interest club, organization, or agency to share beach information with the public.
RESULTS
WEEK OF AUGUST 30, 2023
Swim Guide results are in! E. coli levels are up throughout our watershed. Of the 20 sites tested this week, 16 exceeded the US EPA guideline for e. coli due to heavy rains.
This is our last week of Swim Guide sampling for the 2023 season. Thank you to our amazing volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF AUGUST 23, 2023
Swim Guide results are in and are much improved! Out of 20 sites tested this week, only two (Bullhole and Yadkin Valley Community Park) were above the US EPA guideline for e.coli.
Next week will be our last swim guide sample of the year. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our Swim Guide program possible!
WEEK OF AUGUST 16, 2023
Swim Guide results are in! We tested 19 swim sites this week, with 11 out of 19 meeting the US EPA guideline for e.coli.
As always, thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our SwimGuide program possible!
Have a great weekend!
WEEK OF AUGUST 9, 2023
SwimGuide results are split this week throughout the watershed. Only 50% of the 20 sites tested met the US EPA guidelines for e.coli.
As always, thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF AUGUST 2, 2023
SwimGuide results looking pretty clean this week despite the rain throughout the watershed. Thank you to our sponsors for helping make our summer sampling season possible: Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement.
WEEK OF JULY 28, 2023
SwimGuide results are much improved this week throughout the watershed, with 14 of 19 sites sampled meeting the US EPA guideline for e.coli.
As always, thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF JULY 20, 2023
Davidson County looks like the best place to recreate based on this week's SwimGuide results, having 4 of the only 6 sites that passed.
We are working to uncover the sources of the high bacteria counts we've seen throughout the Yadkin Basin this summer. Please consider making a donation to support our ongoing sampling efforts.
As always, thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Cube Yadkin Generation, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF JULY 13, 2023
Two-thirds of our SwimGuide sites failed to meet EPA e.coli standards this week. Check out the highlighted recommendations from the Waterkeepers Carolina 2022 SwimGuide Report to see how you can help reduce bacteria pollution in our rivers.
WEEK OF JULY 6, 2023
SwimGuide results are looking much better this week! All of our sites passed except for the Ferguson Access and Huntsville Access. Get out and recreate safely on the river this week!
WEEK OF JUNE 29, 2023
Another bad week for bacteria levels in the Yadkin. 16/21 sites sampled throughout the basin failed to meet EPA guidelines for e.coli. In addition to the air quality alerts issued for large parts of the state today and tomorrow, we urge people to make informed choices about recreating outside this holiday weekend. Stay hydrated, stay cool, and stay safe!
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, and Wake Forest University's Office of Civic and Community Engagement) for making our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF JUNE 22, 2023
Due to the rainy week we've had, we weren't able to reach all of our sample sites yesterday. Of the 14 sites staff and volunteers reached, 12 had e.coli counts above the EPA recommended level. With high water levels and more rain in the forecast for tomorrow, it isn't going to be safe to get out on the river this weekend.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now and WFU Office of Civic and Community Engagement) that make our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF JUNE 14, 2023
20/21 sites pass this week! Unfortunately, Bullhole, our sampling site on the South Yadkin River, continues to struggle with high e.coli levels.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and sponsors (Watershed Now and WFU Office of Civic and Community Engagement) that make our SwimGuide program possible!
WEEK OF JUNE 8, 2023
Our SwimGuide results look much better this week! Friday and Saturday look like they'll be good weather days to get out and recreate on the Yadkin River.
Thank you to our SwimGuide Volunteers and Sponsors! (Watershed Now and the Office of Civic and Community Engagement at Wake Forest University)
WEEK OF MAY 31, 2023
SwimGuide results show e.coli bacteria levels above EPA guidance levels at all but one of our sample sites this week.
Gray symbols next to a site mean that we were unable to sample there this week. Green symbols mean "you're good to go" and Red symbols mean "take caution when recreating here".
Thank you to our SwimGuide Volunteers and Sponsors Watershed Now and the Office of Civic and Community Engagement at Wake Forest University!!
WEEK OF MAY 24, 2023
Our first week of SwimGuide has historic results- all 17 sites passed! !! This is likely due to dry weather conditions, so we expect bacteria levels to be higher next week after all the rain predicted for Memorial Weekend.
We are expanding our sampling program this year to include more access areas on the Yadkin River State Trail in order to celebrate 2023 as the #yearofthetrail in NC.
Swim Guide sampling monitors levels of e.coli bacteria and informs people where it's safe to swim on a weekly basis. This data is also vital to us at Yadkin Riverkeeper to understand the health of the river and identify pollution sources.
If you would like to support our expanded SwimGuide program, you can sponsor a sample for the cost of $30 or a site for the entire summer for $500. Thank you to Watershed Now & Friends of Big Elkin Creek and The Office of Civic & Community Engagement at Wake Forest University for each sponsoring a site for the summer!
