Swim Guide

Our Swim Guide program allows us to monitor popular swimming and recreation access points for E.coli bacteria. Though North Carolina does not have an E.coli standard for water quality and instead uses fecal bacteria standards, the EPA has set a beach action value of no more than 200 MPN for E.coli in recreational waters in order to protect human health.

We monitor 10 locations throughout the Haw River watershed every week during the summer.

There are many ways to get these results:

  • Access the Swim Guide website

  • Download the Swim Guide app directly to your smart phone

  • We publish results each Friday in our e-newsletter, on our Facebook, and our Instagram

  • Subscribe to text updates by texting HAW to (844) 956-1139.

  • Call our Swim Guide Hotline to check on this week’s results: 833-982-0147

The Importance of Swim Guide

Every person should be able to swim at any beach on any day of the summer and never worry about health risks. Without current, reliable data about water quality, people are vulnerable to illness and infection. When water isn’t safe to touch, people withdraw from it. And when the connection between us and our water fades, so does our instinct to protect it. Swim Guide has helped to prevent thousands of waterborne illnesses simply by making it easy for people to know when their water is contaminated and when it is clean for swimming. This program is helping to identify sources of water pollution so that together we can act to restore and maintain swimmable, drinkable, fishable waters.

Why E-coli Testing?
Bacteria contamination in water is a threat to our health. Since 1986, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has urged states to adopt E. coli bacteria (Escherichia coli) standards to preserve recreational water quality and better protect public health. North Carolina is one of only a handful of states that has failed to do so. It’s past time for the state to adopt the E. coli standard for bacteria in freshwaters. Read the Waterkeepers Carolina report “Is It Safe To Swim?”

Finding the Best Beaches

Swim Guide offers water quality information for a wide variety of beaches, ranging from city parks to remote lakes ideal for camping. To find the beach that’s just right for you, browse the map or search for a beach by name. Beach descriptions tell you about amenities, lifeguards, where to park, and everything else you need to know to enjoy a day at the beach.

Have a favorite beach? Bookmark it! The next time you use the app, it will show up at the top of the beach list, making it easier for you to access information. Don’t know how to get to the beach of your choice? The app also provides walking, driving, and transit directions.

Make sure to share your love of beaches with friends and family using our built-in social media sharing tools.

Beach water quality information that is easy to understand

Every beach is marked with an icon so you know when the water at your favorite beach meets government water quality standards. A beach is marked Green when single sample results are under 235 E.coli / 100 ML water. A beach is marked Red when the results are equal to or above 235 E.coli / 100 ML water. A beach is marked Grey when there are no current results or there is no available information.

Reliable beach water quality sources

Water quality information is gathered from government agencies or reported by Swim Guide affiliates themselves. In any beach, look at the “Source” section. This will tell you who samples the water at each beach, how often, and what water quality standards apply. The date and time stamps tell you when the sample results were last verified by the Swim Guide affiliate.

Pollution Reporting

Bacteria isn’t the only pollution that can ruin your trip to the beach. If you are concerned about water quality, litter, minor spills, or other problems, let us know using the pollution reporting tool in Swim Guide. This will alert your local affiliate to environmental problems. (In an emergency, always notify the appropriate authority).

The History of Swim Guide

Swim Guide was created by the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper staff in Toronto to answer this simple question: is it safe to swim in Lake Ontario? We thought it would be easy to find the answer. We were wrong. As it turns out, reliable facts and figures about beach water quality are hard to come by. So we started compiling our own. Over the years, more affiliates have started using Swim Guide to share information about swimming spots and safety with the public. As of 2019, Swim Guide is the most popular beach information service in the world.