Swim Guide
Get your weekly water quality alerts here!
swim guide here
Want to get weekly water quality alerts straight to your phone? Text “Rivers” to 50155!
EN ESPAÑOL
Sound Rivers’ Neuse and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeepers work with interns and volunteers to monitor water quality sites in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. Our sites are sampled weekly from late May through the end of August. Sites are monitored for E. coli bacteria in freshwater and enterococci bacteria in salt water.
As soon as results of our monitoring are available they will be posted to here, can be found at the Swim Guide website, using the smartphone app, on our Facebook page, and will be announced on Public Radio East between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each Friday. You can also get weekly alerts during the summer via text (text “Rivers” to 50155 to join our text alert list).
Conditions for the week of
July 24, 2026
Due to weather, multiple sites were not sampled this week, as noted below! Also, the gate to the Hickory Hill access is locked, likely meaning the water is too low for launching.
Swim Guide shares water-quality results from more than 50 popular recreational sites in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.
We’d like to thank the many volunteers who are making this program happen in 2026!
If you’d like to volunteer, email emily@soundrivers.org. We’d love to have your help!
UPPER NEUSE
Hillsborough
Eno River Brewing – pass
Fews Ford in Eno River State Park – fail
Upstream of Sennett’s Hole – fail
Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve – fail
Falls Lake
Hickory Hill – not tested this week.
Beaver Dam – pass
Ledge Rock – pass
Rolling View – pass
Highway 50 Boat Ramp – pass
Barton Creek – not tested this week.
Raleigh
Anderson Point – fail
Milburnie – not tested this week.
Falls of the Neuse – fail
Buffaloe Road – not tested this week.
Clayton
Clayton River Walk – fail
Neuse Golf Club – not tested this week.
Smithfield
Smithfield Town Commons – not tested this week.
LOWER NEUSE
New! Wilson
Lake Wilson – not tested this week.
Goldsboro
Old Waynesboro State Park – fail
Kinston
Highway 11 Boat Ramp – pass
Oak Bluff Road – pass
Maple Cypress Boat Ramp, Grifton – pass
Cow Pen Landing, Vanceboro – pass
Bridgeton Park – fail
New Bern
Glenburnie – pass
Lawson Creek Park – pass
Spring Garden – pass
Brices Creek – fail
Trent Woods – pass
River Bend – fail
Pollocksville – pass
Black Beard Sailing Club – pass
Slocum Creek, Havelock – not tested this week.
Oriental
Midyette Street – pass
Pierce Creek – fail
TAR-PAMLICO
Rocky Mount
Sunset Park – not tested this week.
Battle Park – not tested this week.
Tar River Reservoir – not tested this week.
Tarboro boat ramp, River Road – pass
Greenville
Upstream, Town Common – pass
Wildwood Park – pass
Port Terminal – pass
Yankee Hall Road, Pactolus – pass
Washington
Mason’s Landing – pass
Washington waterfront – pass
Havens Gardens in Washington – fail
Dinah’s Landing at Goose Creek State Park – pass
Pamlico Plantation – fail
Cypress Landing, Chocowinity – pass
Blount’s Bay – pass
Cotton Patch Landing, Blount’s Creek – pass
Bath
Bonner Point – pass
Plum Point – not tested this week.
Belhaven
Wrights Creek – fail
Get Swim Guide Results
Swim Guide volunteers sample each site on Thursdays throughout the summer and results are available by Friday afternoon. They will be posted to this page, can be found at the Swim Guide website, using the app, on our Facebook page, and will be announced on Public Radio East between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each Friday. You can also get the results via weekly text alerts during the summer — just text “Rivers” to 50155 to join our text alert list!
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Water Quality Criteria
Sound Rivers uses the North Carolina and EPA water-quality criteria for contact recreation. Sites are marked green when the last sample was at healthy levels of bacteria. Sites are marked red when the last sample was above the criteria, or unhealthy levels of bacteria. Sites are marked grey when there are no current results or there is no available information.
E. coli is a type of bacteria found in the intestines of people and other animals, and is a good indicator of recent fecal contamination. While most types of these bacteria are harmless, some types can make us sick or cause more severe gastrointestinal issues in more sensitive groups.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries Recreational Water Quality Program does additional testing in the region. Those results are also incorporated into the sites listed on the Swim Guide website and app.
Thanks so much to our Sponsors, who are helping us bring you
the Summer of 2026 Swim Guide!
