Hood River Waterfront Park

Hood River, Oregon

The Waterfront Park Beach is a man-made sandy cove cut into the riverbank along the Columbia. This popular swimming beach is close to downtown and a nice place for a picnic or a cool dip on a hot day. Dogs are allowed on leash in the park but not in the beach or swim areas. There is no lifeguard on duty so swim at your own risk.

In the summer months, Columbia Riverkeeper monitors this site weekly for E.coli contamination.

Amenities: Picnic tables and shelter, restrooms, drinking fountain, walking path, playground.

Park hours 8am to sunset.

Get directions to this beach

COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is essential right now. Follow the advice of the health experts. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Heading to the beach should only be considered an option if social distancing practices can be followed. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter the efforts to curb the virus’ spread.

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization public resource on COVID-19.

Water Quality

Meets water quality standards
Current Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 4th, 2020. Columbia Riverkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on August 5th, 2020 at 11:38 PM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

13°C

Clear and sunny

Report Pollution

Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

The Oregon state water quality standard provides that a single sample shall not exceed 406 E.coli colonies/100 mL of water and the geometric mean of 5 samples within 30 days shall not exceed 126 colonies/100 mL. The EPA recommended standard is more protective and provides that a single sample shall not exceed 235 colonies/100mL and the geometric mean of 5 samples within 30 days shall not exceed 126 colonies/100mL. The Swim Guide will utilize the EPA standard for Oregon beaches.

There is currently very limited water quality monitoring of Oregon's inland swim beaches. The federal Beach Act does not cover freshwater or riverine beaches, and the state of Oregon does not monitor swim beaches or recreation sites on the Columbia. Columbia Riverkeeper monitors recreation sites in the Columbia River Gorge through their Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program. Most sites are sampled monthly and high priority sites are sampled weekly from June-September.

The Swim Guide's safety ratings are based solely on E.coli levels. While E.coli concentration is a useful indicator of fecal contamination, there are many other potential sources of pollution that are not reflected in the Swim Guide. These include other bacteria, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides that may harm aquatic life. On the Columbia and other salmon rivers, high temperatures threaten fish that need cold water. If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about the Columbia River, visit <A HREF="http://www.columbiariverkeeper.org">www.columbiariverkeeper.org</A>.

Water Quality Graph