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.
Want to help us out? Please consider sponsoring one water sample for Swim Guide for $30, or sponsor a site for the entire summer for $500 here!
RESULTS
WEEK OF AUGUST 27, 2025
This is our last week of Swim Guide testing, and we have our results! 22 out of 26 sites passed! Yadkin Riverkeeper is investigating sources of contamination at the sites that consistently failed to meet the guideline for safe recreational use this summer. Have a great long weekend!
¡Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación para la última semana! 22 de 26 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad. Yadkin Riverkeeper está investigando los sitios que fallan a menudo. Disfruten el fin de semana largo!
A big THANK YOU to all our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF AUGUST 20, 2025
We have this week's Swim Guide results and we saw an improvement with 19 out of 26 sites passing. If we receive rain this weekend, you can expect the E. coli levels to rise. Enjoy the water this weekend!
¡Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación esta semana! 19 de 26 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad.
Thank you to our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF AUGUST 13, 2025
7 out of 24 sites sampled passed Swim Guide this week. We had rain again leading up to and during sampling on Wednesday which contributed to the high failure rate this week. YRK will look into sources of bacteria at sites with a high percentage of failures at the end of the season. Please be careful recreating on the river and lake this weekend!
¡Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación esta semana! 7 de 24 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad. Recibimos lluvia antes del muestreo de agua que contribuyó a los altos niveles de bacterias.
Thank you to our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF AUGUST 6, 2025
We have the Swim Guide results for this week, and 10 out of 26 sites passed this week. Across the watershed, we received rain the days leading up to sampling on Wednesday. Agricultural and stormwater runoff cause elevated bacteria levels after rain events. Be safe on the water this weekend!
Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación esta semana. 10 de 26 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad. Recibimos lluvia los últimos días que causa niveles altos de bacteria.
Thank you to our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF JULY 30, 2025
14 out of 26 Swim Guide sites passed this week. We saw elevated levels again in the upper watershed above Kerr Scott Lake at Happy Valley School, Ferguson, and Marley's Ford and in the upper/middle watershed from Roaring River to Donnaha. Bull Hole and Abbott's Creek also failed to meet the safe recreational use guideline. Please use precautions such as avoiding direct contact with the water at failing sites, covering cuts, and preventing water from entering your eyes, ears, and mouth.
¡Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación esta semana! 14 de 26 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad. Tengan cuidado cuando visiten estos sitios.
Thank you to our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF JULY 23, 2025
We have our Swim Guide results for this week on the Yadkin River and lakes. 14 out of 26 sites passed. The high frequency of rain events this summer is most likely contributing to elevated bacteria levels. Please be careful recreating and avoid sites with high levels of E. coli.
¡Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación esta semana! 14 de 26 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad.
Thank you to our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF JULY 16, 2025
8 out of 25 Swim Guide sites passed this week. We had heavy rains in the watershed on Tuesday, contributing to greater runoff and elevated E. coli levels in our waterways. We do not recommend swimming at the failing sites.
8 de 25 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad esta semana. No recomendamos nadar en los sitios que fallan.
Thank you to our sampling volunteers and to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!
WEEK OF JULY 9, 2025
20 out of 25 Swim Guide sites passed in the Yadkin River basin this week. Berry Mountain Swim Beach on Kerr Scott Lake was closed for maintenance, so we did not collect samples at this location. The 5 sites that failed were Marley's Ford, Ferguson, Ronda, Crater Park, and Abbott's Creek. E. coli levels have most likely increased after yesterday's heavy rains, and they are likely to increase more after tonight's rain event. Please use extra precaution when recreating on the river after it rains because the stormwater runoff transports sediment and pollutants such as E. coli into our local waterways.
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
20 de 25 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad. Sin embargo, es probable que los niveles de E. coli aumentaron después de la lluvia.
WEEK OF JULY 2, 2025
11 out of 26 Swim Guide sites passed this week. The sites upstream of Winston-Salem, with the exception of the Kerr Scott Lake sites, had extremely high levels of E. coli due to a large rain event the night before sampling. Please be careful recreating on the River and Lakes this weekend, and have a great 4th of July!
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
¡Tenemos los resultados de la Guía de Natación esta semana! 11 de 26 sitios pasaron la guía de seguridad. Como consecuencia de los altos niveles de lluvia, todos los sitios en la cuenca alta fallaron excepto los sitios del Kerr Scott Lake.
¿Quiere apoyar a la Guía de Natación?
Puede patrocinar una muestra de agua en linea siguiendo este enlace: https://www.yadkinriverkeeper.org/swim-guide-sponsorship
WEEK OF JUNE 25, 2025
Results are back! This week, 24 of our 26 sites passed the EPA's E. coli water quality guideline for safe recreational use! Roaring River and Ronda are the only sites that exceeded safe E.coli levels.
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
WEEK OF JUNE 18, 2025
Swim Guide results are back! This week, only 9 of our 26 sites passed the EPA's E. coli water quality guideline for safe recreational use.
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
WEEK OF JUNE 11, 2025
Swim Guide results are in! This week, 12 out of our 26 sites passed the EPA's E. coli water quality guideline for safe recreational use.
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
WEEK OF JUNE 4, 2025
We saw much lower E. coli levels this Wednesday after a dry week! All sites passed this week! We did experience some rain today in part of the watershed; therefore, the E. coli levels may have increased since yesterday when samples were collected. Enjoy the water this weekend!
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
WEEK OF MAY 28, 2025
Only 9 out of 26 sites met the EPA's E. coli water quality guideline for safe recreational use this week. 7 of the passing sites are in the Upper Yadkin River basin: Happy Valley School, Yadkin Valley Park, Ferguson, Berry Mountain, Boomer, Smoot Park, and the Tailwater at W. Kerr Scott Dam. The other two passing sites are located on High Rock Lake: Flat Swamp and Buddle Creek swim areas. Most of the river sites failed this week due to the high amount of rain and runoff we experienced this week. We advise you to avoid direct contact with the failing sites this weekend and use caution if recreating.
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend, and all our sampling volunteers!
WEEK OF MAY 21, 2025
The first week of Swim Guide water quality sampling results are in, and 9 out of 22 sites sampled this week passed the EPA's E. coli guidelines for safe recreational use. Due to rainy conditions during the week leading up to water sample collection, we are seeing elevated levels of E. coli at most of the river sites. With higher amounts of precipitation, there is a greater amount of runoff carrying pollutants such as E. coli entering our waterways.
Special thanks to our Swim Guide sponsors- Cube Hydro Carolinas and Bill Jenkins & Pam Townsend!