ASHEVILLE, NC – July 10, 2024 – Summer is here, and so is the urge to cool off and play in the waters around Asheville. Be aware that Mountain True’s 2023 French Broad River’s water report indicated that more than one-half of the sites tested failed to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recreational standards for swimming. The report found that E. Coli levels were almost 8 times the EPA recreational water standard. However, the water frequently meets the EPA’s standards for secondary recreation like tubing and kayaking which accepts these elevated E. Coli levels. This summer, the river has been safer for water activities because it hasn’t rained very much, according to Hartwell Carson, Mountain True’s French Broad Riverkeeper, as told to the Asheville Citizen-Times. Mountain True is a nonprofit organization based in Asheville that has a vision for healthy forests, clean waters and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge region.
E. coli, a bacterium from animal and human feces, is a reliable indicator of the presence of bacteria and pathogens that are harmful to human health. Contact with or inadvertently swallowing contaminated water can cause gastrointestinal illness and skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic, and wound infections. The most frequently reported symptoms are stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and low-grade fever. Each can occur within 4 days of exposure. Children and seniors are at a greater risk of being affected.
Water samples are collected each week from popular recreation spots the French Broad River and western North Carolina by Mountain True’s volunteers and staff from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The samples are processed to determine the E. Coli levels.
In her 1955 book The French Broad, the American writer Wilma Dykeman described how many years of dumping untreated sewage and industrial waste into the waterway had created a dirty, smelly river that she described as “too thick to drink, too thin to plow.” After the Clean Water Act of 1972, the work of many nonprofit organizations and volunteers significantly improved the river’s water quality.
When the river has an unhealthy-appearing brown color, it is a clear sign of sediment and other pollutants running through the waterway. Carson said if the river looks clean, then it probably has fewer pollutants. The French Broad River has elevated levels of harmful bacteria from sewer and septic system leaks, cattle accessing streams, and stormwater runoff from animal agricultural operations and fields. Booming construction and development, more frequent heavy rains due to climate change, and an aging stormwater system result in more runoff from urban areas, more sewer overflows, and increased waterway sediment.
The river has a strong economic presence around Asheville. It is estimated to bring in $3.8 billion annually according to a 2020-21 study by Western Carolina University economics professor Steve Ha and the French Broad River Partnership, a group of more than 50 organizations that want to improve the river’s health for environmental and economic benefits. Carson recommends that policymakers need to encourage better building and farming practices, upgrade aging sewer infrastructure, and increase buffers near the river to reduce the pollution from nearby building and farming sites.
You can access an up-to-date French Broad River and western North Carolina water quality report for swimming on these websites: mountaintrue.org/swimguide, its smartphone app, and theswimguide.org/find. The frenchbroadwaterquality.com website indicates the safety of swimming and tubing on the French Broad River at Pearson Bridge.
Hartwell Carson, said, “We strongly encourage recreation. I go out all the time, swimming, boating – I just do it in an educated and informed way.” He recommends that persons should check the swim guide before deciding where to go in the water and whether it safe to swim or kayak.
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, healthyasheville@ashevillefm.org