News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman was back in the field this week, following up on a Swim Guide site that pointed to pollution in the latter part of the summer.

“Basically, we’re making sure that no major bacteria sources or pollution incidents are affecting the water quality of these streams,” Katey said. “We do this a lot when we get back consistent fails through Swim Guide, so we can track and resolve different issues that may be going on in the water.”

Cotton Patch Landing on Blounts Creek was one of those sites. In early summer, the site was returning results well within recreational water-quality standards, but by midsummer, Cotton Patch Landing was failing regularly — a red flag for Sound Rivers’ Riverkeeping team. Last month, Katey took a first round of samples.

“After all the Swim Guide samples were failing, we were expecting that something might be going on, but the first time I went out, the samples came back clear,” she said. “This round is just making sure that whatever the cause was has now been resolved.”

To better understand a source should these results return high in bacteria, Katey took samples at the Swim Guide site, as well as upstream and downstream of the location.

Results will be returned Friday, Dec. 6. This post will be updated with the results.

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