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
Aug. 21, 2026
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/Durham
Eno River Brewing – pass
Fews Ford in Eno River State Park – pass
Upstream of Sennett’s Hole – pass
Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve – pass
Falls Lake
Hickory Hill – site is closed, likely due to low water levels.
Beaver Dam – not tested this week.
Ledge Rock – not tested this week.
Rolling View – not tested this week.
Highway 50 Boat Ramp – site is closed, likely due to low water level.
Barton Creek – pass
Raleigh
Anderson Point – not tested this week.
Milburnie – pass
Falls of the Neuse – pass
Buffaloe Road – site is closed.
Clayton
Clayton River Walk – pass
Neuse Golf Club – not tested this week.
Smithfield
Smithfield Town Commons – pass
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 – not tested this week.
Cow Pen Landing, Vanceboro – pass
Bridgeton Park – pass
New Bern
Glenburnie – pass
Lawson Creek Park – not tested this week.
Spring Garden – pass
Brices Creek – fail
Trent Woods – fail
River Bend – fail
Pollocksville – fail
Black Beard Sailing Club – pass
Slocum Creek, Havelock – fail
Oriental
Midyette Street – pass
Pierce Creek – pass
TAR-PAMLICO
Rocky Mount
Sunset Park – pass
Battle Park – pass
Tar River Reservoir – pass
Tarboro boat ramp, River Road – pass
Greenville
Downstream, Town Common – pass
Wildwood Park – pass
Port Terminal – pass
Yankee Hall Road, Pactolus – pass
Washington
Mason’s Landing – fail
Washington waterfront – fail
Havens Gardens in Washington – fail
Dinah’s Landing at Goose Creek State Park – fail
Pamlico Plantation – pass
Cypress Landing, Chocowinity – not tested this week.
Blount’s Bay – pass
Cotton Patch Landing, Blount’s Creek – fail
Bath
Bonner Point – not tested this week.
Plum Point – not tested this week.
Belhaven
Wrights Creek – pass
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!
