Swim Guide Season Wrap-Up — Yadkin Riverkeeper

Earlier this month, Yadkin Riverkeeper completed its last week of E. coli testing for Swim Guide! Our summer time intern, Lance Morrison, did a fantastic job coordinating this system this summer time. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who collected water samples from swim and paddle accesses from the mountains in Happy Valley to High Rock Lake each Wednesday. A particular thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors, Cube Hydro Carolinas and Friends of Big Elkin Creek.

From May 21 to September 2, 2026:

• YRK and volunteers collected 392 samples over 16 weeks

• YRK’s fb posts reached 59,597 folks

• 18 volunteers collected samples over the course of the summer time

• 5 Swim Guide Sites had been sponsored

• 1 information article written about this essential program within the Winston-Salem Journal

Swim Guide offers the general public essential details about the water high quality of their native waterways. Yadkin Riverkeeper checks alongside the Yadkin River, the South Yadkin River, W. Kerr Scott Lake, and High Rock Lake at 26 completely different areas. The EPA guideline that YRK at present makes use of to find out whether or not a website is secure for leisure use considers water with greater than 235 colony-forming models (CFU) of E. coli per 100 mL as failing to fulfill water high quality requirements. However, some regional DEQ places of work use completely different standards, setting a threshold of 126 CFU/100 mL for main contact recreation, reminiscent of swimming, and 886 CFU/100 mL for secondary contact actions reminiscent of boating, fishing, and paddling. While YRK used the beforehand really useful 235 CFU guideline this summer time, we are going to discover the up to date two-threshold system to find out if the brand new tips higher replicate when the websites are secure for swimming and when they’re secure for different leisure actions.

Of the 392 samples examined, 281 met the E. coli guideline, a 71.7% passing fee which is a 15.4 level enhance from final 12 months. The passing fee enhance is almost definitely because of the drought we skilled this summer time and the lower in precipitation and runoff into the river. In addition to figuring out the weekly situations of a river or lake website, YRK is ready to determine micro organism “hotspots” for prime E. coli inside the watershed. This 12 months, Ferguson failed most incessantly with an especially passing fee of 8% or 1 week out of 13 sampled at this website. YRK is investigating the causes for a considerable failing fee and can do extra testing to find out if cattle farms upstream are the principle contributors of fecal contamination.

Smoot Park was one other hotspot this summer time with a passing fee of 37.5% (6 out of 16 weeks). This could have been a results of decrease water ranges within the river which receives wastewater from utilities upstream and runoff from North Wilkesboro.

Sites alongside the 2 lakes handed essentially the most incessantly with the three websites on Kerr Scott, Boomer, Berry Mountain, and Fort Hamby, passing 100% of the time.

If you will have any questions in regards to the Swim Guide program and the outcomes this summer time, please attain out to Nicole at [email protected].