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WASHINGTON [June 27, 2025] — Six sites on the Tar-Pamlico failed to meet recreational water-quality standards this week: Moccasin dock/Cypress Creek in Lake Royale, Sunset Park and Battle Park in Rocky Mount, Dinah’s Landing and Havens Gardens in Washington, and Wright’s Creek in Belhaven.

Crows Landing in Lake Royale was not tested this week. “Six of the 24 sites sampled this week failed to meet recreational standards, likely because of runoff from spotty thunderstorms that occur in the watershed this time of year,” said Clay Barber, Sound Rivers’ program director.

A “Swim Guide fail” means elevated levels of fecal bacteria, which can come with increased risk of gastrointestinal illness and skin infections for pets and humans alike.

“When a site fails, you need to be smart about recreating on the water — don’t go into the water if you have any open wounds and don’t put your head under water if you do go in,” Barber said.

Swim Guide is an international water-quality program conducted locally by Sound Rivers, an environmental nonprofit based in Raleigh, New Bern and Washington whose mission to keep North Carolina’s waterways fishable, swimmable and drinkable. This summer marks the eighth year of Swim Guide in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. The program runs from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.

Each week, a team of Sound Rivers’ volunteers gathers water samples at more than 50 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.

Twenty-five of the Swim Guide sampling sites are located in the Tar-Pamlico river basin: six recreational sites at Lake Royale, near Louisburg; Tar River Reservoir, Battle Park and Sunset Park in Rocky Mount; the River Road boat access near Tarboro; Town Common, Wildwood Park and Port Terminal in Greenville; Yankee Hall at Pactolus; the downtown waterfront, Mason’s Landing and Havens Gardens boat ramp in Washington; Chocowinity Bay at Cypress Landing; Broad Creek at Pamlico Plantation; Blounts Bay and Blounts Creek at Cotton Patch Landing; Dinah’s Landing at Goose Creek State Park; Bonner Point and Plum Point on Bath Creek; and Wright’s Creek boating access, near Belhaven.

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 Pavel Molchanov Scholars, ECU SECU Public Fellows Internship Foundation, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of New Bern, City of Greenville, Lake Royale Property Owners Association and Melinda Vann and David Silberstein. For more information, visit soundrivers.org.

To sign up for Swim Guide notifications, go to soundrivers.org/swimguide or text “SWIM” to 833-686-5322 for weekly water-quality results. For more information about Sound Rivers, visit soundrivers.org.