Five sites on the Lower Neuse failed to meet recreational water-quality standards this week, and two of them failed spectacularly.
Pierce Creek and Midyette Street had extremely high levels of the fecal bacteria enterococci at 24,196.6 MPN/mL (most probable number per 100 milliliters) and 12,997 MPN/mL, respectively. Recreational water-quality standards top out at 104 MPN for enterococci and levels higher than 5,000 MPN/100 mL are likely contaminated by sanitary sewage.
“Since results were higher than 5,000 MPN, it would be a good guess that human sewage is the culprit,” said Taylor Register, Sound Rivers’ water-quality specialist. “My immediate idea is that boats were dumping their tanks after July 4th in that area. Oriental is very popular with boaters for July 4th weekend, and we’ve already had two complaints this year of boats dumping at marinas there.”
Two New Bern-area sites failed the Swim Guide test — Town of Bridgeton Park and Lawson Creek Park — and Slocum Creek in Havelock failed for a sixth week running.
A Swim Guide “fail” means there are elevated levels of fecal bacteria in the water, which can come with increased risk of gastrointestinal illness and skin infections for pets and humans alike.
Swim Guide is an international water-quality program conducted locally by Sound Rivers, an environmental nonprofit based in Raleigh, New Bern and Washington with a mission to keep North Carolina’s waterways fishable, swimmable and drinkable.
Each week, a team of Sound Rivers’ volunteers gathers water samples at 54 popular recreation sites from the Piedmont to the Pamlico Sound. Sound Rivers’ staff test samples for E. coli in fresh water and enterococci in salt water and pass/fail results are released to the public, providing an easy way to find out where it’s safe to swim.
Seventeen of the 54 sites are located in the lower Neuse River basin: Oak Bluff Road and Highway 11 boat ramp near Kinston; Core Creek Landing at Fort Barnwell; Cowpen Landing and Spring Garden boat ramps; Glenburnie Park, Town of Bridgeton Park, Black Beard Sailing Club on upper Broad Creek, Lawson Creek Park, River Bend kayak launch, Trent Woods and Brice’s Creek — all in or near New Bern; the East Street boat ramp in Pollocksville; Slocum Creek boat ramp in Havelock; Rice Creek off the Bay River; and the Midyette Street boat ramp and Sea Harbour Yacht Club at Pierce Creek in Oriental.
Sound Rivers’ Swim Guide program is sponsored by the Water-Quality Fund in memory of Gene Pate, Grady-White Boats, Public Radio East, Cummins, UNC Lenoir Health Care, the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, UNC Pavel Molchanov Scholars, ECU SECU Public Fellows Internship Foundation, City of Greenville, Lake Royale Property Owners Association, Melinda Vann and David Silberstein, and Wendy and Tim Wilson.
To sign up for Swim Guide notifications, go to soundrivers.org/swimguide or text “SWIM” to 33222 for weekly water-quality text updates. For more information about Sound Rivers, visit soundrivers.org.
By Sound Rivers