Oconoluftee River Oconoluftee Island Park

Source Information

The Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee (WATR) has partnered with the NC Division of Water Resources (DWR) to monitor highly recreated areas within the Tuckasegee Watershed. There is currently no water quality standard for E. coli in North Carolina; however, in 2022 NC Department of Health and Human Services provided recommended primary and secondary recreational values for all recreational waters. 126 MPN/100 mL is being used to communicate whether an increased exposure risk may be present for primary recreational activities (swimming/snorkeling) and 886 MPN/100 mL for secondary recreational activities (kayaking, tubing, fishing) in all inland waters. Sites are sampled for E. coli once a week by WATR volunteers from Mid-April to September and analyzed at DWR's Asheville Regional Laboratory using Colilert-18 methodology. Preliminary results are available the next day. A site will be marked red when the result exceeds the primary recreational value of 126 MPN/100 mL and green when the most recent sample value is 126 MPN/100 mL or below. All recreators should be aware results are preliminary and, while posted as soon as available, represent data that is a day old and should only be used as guidance when assessing exposure risk as bacteria levels can change at any time. The Division always recommends following the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for recreating in natural waters, which can be found at epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/cd/water/prevent/html.