Winyah Rivers Swim Guide Program
Winyah Rivers Alliance believes everyone has the right to fishable, swimmable, drinkable water. During the summer season, we want you to know whether your favorite river landings are swimmable. We have partnered with Swim Guide to provide current recreational water quality information so you can enjoy the rivers safely all summer long.
Each week, your Riverkeepers collect and analyze samples for fecal bacteria. We then share the results in our Swim Guide Report on Fridays throughout the summer. We are sampling 43 sites across all 7 of our rivers. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter or follow Winyah Rivers Alliance on Facebook and Instagram to get your weekly Swim Guide Report!
Learn more!
Where is Winyah Rivers Sampling?
All About Swim Guide
Swim Guide is Yelp for swimming! If you’re looking for a safe place to swim, Swim Guide is your one-stop shop for recreational water quality. Using an easy-to-understand color code system, Swim Guide gives you the information you need to decide where to swim.
Visit the Swim Guide website or download the Swim Guide app to check the health of your favorite river landing!
Why Fecal bacteria?
Fecal bacteria is present in our waterways from a variety of sources. Warm blooded animals (and even some cold blooded animals like alligators) have fecal bacteria in their guts and eliminate the bacteria through defecation. That’s right, we are talking about poop!
While fecal bacteria may not make us sick, it can indicate that there are human-sourced pathogens in our waterways that can make us sick. The US Environmental Protection Agency uses different species of fecal bacteria as indicators species to approximate the level of risk for someone recreation in contaminated water.
In freshwater, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) recommends using E. coli as an indicator species to approximate the level of risk for someone recreating in contaminated water. The established threshold value for a single sample is a concentration of 235 MPN/100mL. In saltwater, the US EPA recommends using Enterococcus as an indicator species to approximate the level of risk for someone recreating in contaminated water. The established threshold value for a single sample is a concentration of 104 MPN/100mL.
We evaluate whether our samples passed or failed the water quality standards established by the US EPA. Passing the standard means swimmable water for you!
Where is Winyah Rivers sampling?
Winyah Rivers Swim Guide Program covers seven subwatersheds in the greater Winyah Bay watershed. Your Riverkeepers, Winyah Rivers staff, and volunteers are sampling recreational sites including boat landings and swimming holes where recreators come into direct contact with our rivers.
Winyah Rivers Alliance staff, volunteers, and interns are sampling 43 sites throughout the greater Winyah Bay watershed every Wednesday throughout the summer. Our sites include:
- 15 sites on the Waccamaw River and Lake Waccamaw
- 12 sites on the Lumber River
- 4 sites on the Little Pee Dee River
- 3 sites on the Great Pee River
- 3 sites on the Lynches River
- 5 sites on the Black River
- 2 sites on the Sampit River
You can view a map of our Swim Guide sites below:
Where can I find results?
Visit the Swim Guide website and find your favorite site!
Follow Winyah Rivers on Facebook and check results every Friday!
Follow Winyah Rivers on Instagram and check results every Friday!
Sign up for our newsletters (scroll to the bottom of page and enter your information) and get the Swim Guide Report in your email inbox every Friday!
You can also contact your Riverkeepers with any questions you have about the Winyah Rivers Swim Guide Program.
