As summer temperatures begin to rise across western North Carolina, residents and visitors wanting to tube or swim in the local rivers can rest assured knowing the water is safe.
The water quality monitoring program is officially underway. The program tests water quality at popular recreation sites across the region. It’s a state-funded effort that expands existing monitoring programs and uses additional testing and modeling tools to help track bacteria levels in rivers and streams, according to North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson.
Speaking at the kickoff on the banks of the French Broad River Wednesday, Wilson said the program helps people feel confident about getting back in the water.
“This is a beautiful river and the mountains are incredible and people deserve to know that it's a safe thing to go play in,” Wilson said.
The program’s coordinator, Rachel Rose, said staff use a sterilized bottle to get a water sample. They then dumps water three times before grabbing the final sample that is sent to a lab in nearby Swannanoa.
“We have to have a lab here to be able to analyze it in time because otherwise you start having bacteria grow in your sample bottle and it's not representative of what's actually in the river,” Rose said.
The collected water is split between two different containers. One is to test for E. Coli and the other is for turbidity.
Program officials also conduct a water meter test to understand the river’s salt, oxygen, PH, conductivity and temperature levels. The data collected is uploaded to an app that stores all the data.
The results are then posted online through the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality website the next day.
The program tests water at 71 sites across four river basins including the French Broad, the Broad, Catawba, and Tuckasegee.
