Monitoring

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Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

Monitoring

The central tenants of the Clean Water Act (1972) are to make the waterways of the United States swimmable, drinkable, and fishable.

Our most popular water quality monitoring program – Swim Guide – aims to give residents the data they need to make decisions about swimming in our lakes and rivers.

Each week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, our team of staff, volunteers, and interns collect water samples, test them for bacteria (E. coli), and post the results. Learn more about Swim Guide.

Catawba Riverkeeper is also a stakeholder in the Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group, a collective of municipal water users working on best practices for preserving clean and plentiful water.

Monitoring Programs:

Swim Guide

Swim Guide is an international program used by Riverkeepers and other advocates to provide up-to-date recreational water quality data for beaches, lakes, and rivers around the world.

During the summer, Riverkeeper staff, interns, and volunteers collect samples on Thursday mornings, which are tested for E. coli in the Riverkeeper’s in-house lab. Results are posted on Fridays in a stoplight system (green, yellow, red), so that you can make informed decisions about swimming over the weekend.