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Swim Alert
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Lake Watch Swim Alert
Lake Watch regularly monitors swimming sites around the lake and in the streams and the Tallapoosa River above the lake. Many of these sites have established swim beaches, such as Wind Creek State Park, DARE Park, Camp Alamisco and Camp ASCCA, or swimming areas on streams like the one at Hillabee Creek above Highway 22 bridge. Lake Watch monitors test for fecal bacteria, specifically E. coli, an indicator of fecal contamination. If E. coli contamination is above 235/100 milliliters of water (half a cup), the water is not safe for swimming (according to Alabama Department of Environmental Management water quality standards).
You may wonder – what’s the big deal about a few bacteria in the lake? A few are not such a big deal, but when you get several 100’s to 1000’s per half-cup of lake water, and they are bacteria from feces of warm-blooded animals or humans, that becomes a problem – a public health problem. If contacted and ingested, E. coli, along with the many other bacteria, viruses and parasites in feces, can result in gastrointestinal ailments and in some cases, serious illness.
Our Swim Alert network posts bacteriological test results on the Swim Guide, a one-stop shop for swim beach water quality information (www.theswimguide.org). Our Lake Watch test results are displayed in Swim Guide as easy-to-interpret icons: GREEN for safe – go swimming, and RED for not safe – stop and consider swimming elsewhere since the water is contaminated with E. coli.
View the most recent testing through the map below - click on a site to access the Swim Guide page for that site.