Chesapeake Bay Foundation

As a non-profit, Swim Guide depends on donations to help millions of people connect to clean water.

The public beach at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is located where Black Walnut Creek meets Chesapeake Bay. It is a popular site for swimming and boating. However, due to limited parking a permit pass much be acquired from the Philip Merrill Environmental Centre. The beach is accessible from 8:30 to 5 on weekdays only, and this schedule may vary depending on events or field trips at the learning Centre. The Philip Merrill Environmental Centre, headquarters to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, is a favourite destination for school and learning groups The centre is considered one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and its design is a reflection of the foundation’s mission to promote protection and restoration of Chesapeake Bay.
Note that there are no public washrooms on site.

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

Passed water quality tests at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 25th, 2020. The Swim Guide updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on August 28th, 2020 at 1:22 PM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

18°C

Cloudy

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health collects water samples from Memorial Day - Labour Day. The water is tested for enterococci, bacteria found in the intestine of all warm-blooded animals.

Swim Guide checks for the latest information daily, Monday - Friday during the swimming season.

A beach is marked Green when there is less than 104 MPN (Most Probable Number) colonies of Enterococci / 100 ml of water for bodies of water that are sampled weekly or bi-weekly and 158 MPN colonies / 100 ml of water for bodies of water that are tested monthly.

A beach is marked Red when there are more than 104 MPN colonies / 100 ml of water for beaches that are tested weekly or bi-weekly and 158 MPN colonies / 100 ml of water for bodies of water that are tested monthly. A beach will also be posted if results from an area that has been resampled 5 times due to high levels of bacteria come back with results over 35 MPN colonies / 100 ml of water.

A beach is marked Grey when there is no current or reliable monitoring information available.

Maryland Healthy Beaches notification system has partnered with Google Earth to send updates. However, Swim Guide prefers to contact the Health Department directly as we are unable to determine the monitoring schedule Google Earth uses. The Anne Arundel Department of Health operates a 24-hour automated test results phone line at 410-222-7999.

A “no direct water contact” advisory is placed on beaches for 48 hours after a heavy rainfall, however the Anne Arundel County Department of Health’s website and The Maryland Healthy Beaches website are not updated.

Water Quality Graph