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The clean-water run continues this week as all 18 sites passed the Swim Guide test in the Tar-Pamlico watershed.

“It’s a good indication that the Tar-Pamlico River has good water quality under normal weather conditions and is generally safe to recreate in. It’s also a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem. All the more reason to get out on the water,” said Clay Barber, Sound Rivers’ environmental projects coordinator. “Counter to most people’s assumptions that because of its color it isn’t really clean, it has good water quality — the color is just a result of natural processes.”

Swim Guide is an international water-quality program conducted locally by Sound Rivers, an environmental nonprofit with a mission to keep North Carolina’s waterways fishable, swimmable and drinkable. 

Each week, a team of Sound Rivers’ volunteers gathers water samples at 49 popular recreation sites along the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico river basins, from the Raleigh-Durham area to the Pamlico Sound. The samples are then tested for the bacteria E. coli by Sound Rivers’ staff, and results are released to the public, providing an easy way to find out where it’s safe to swim. Where it’s not, boaters, swimmers and their pets should avoid the water or practice caution at these sites, as exposure to bacteria-laden waters comes with an increased risk of gastrointestinal illness and skin infections. 

Eighteen sites are tested each week in the Tar-Pamlico River basin: at Rocky Mount — Tar River Reservoir and Battle Park; at River Road near Tarboro; at Greenville — Town Common, Wildwood Park, Port Terminal and Yankee Hall; at Washington — Mason’s Landing, Washington waterfront, Haven’s Garden Boat Ramp, Chocowinity Bay at Cypress Landing, Swan Point, Broad Creek at Pamlico Plantation, Blounts Bay and Blounts Creek at Cotton Patch Landing; at Bath — Bonner Point and Plum Point; and Belhaven — Pungo River at Woodstock Point.

Sound Rivers’ Swim Guide program is sponsored by Grady-White Boats, the Water-Quality Monitoring Fund in memory of Gene Pate, UNC-Lenoir Health Care, Northwest Creek Marina, UNC Pavel Molchanov Scholars, Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, Cypress Landing, ECU SECU Public Fellows Internship Foundation, Coastal Carolina Health Care, Restoration Systems, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, US Foods, and David Silberstein and Melinda Vann.

To sign up for Swim Guide notifications, go to www.soundrivers.org/swimguide or text “SWIM” to 33222 for weekly water-quality text updates. For more information about Sound Rivers, visit soundrivers.org.