Lexington County, SC 05/09/2023 - Last week, the Midlands Rivers Coalition began its seventh year of recreational water quality monitoring of the major rivers in the Columbia area. The monitoring includes 11 sample locations on the Lower Saluda, Broad, and Congaree Rivers. The testing will be conducted weekly and published from May through September. Samples are collected on Wednesdays, and the results are posted to HowsMySCRiver.org each Thursday. If a sample does not meet the state standard for contact recreation, a swimming advisory is issued and a follow-up sample is collected. The results of the first samples collected last week were published on Thursday of last week.
The Midlands Rivers Coalition is made up of environmental organizations, local and state government, academia, recreation providers and businesses. One of the goals of the coalition is to provide river users with water quality data and issue advisories when necessary.
The Lower Saluda, Broad, and Congaree Rivers are recreational destinations for public fishing, canoeing, kayaking, tubing, swimming and wading; and these activities involve contact with natural waters. As with most natural bodies of water, these rivers can be negatively impacted periodically by short-term events such as runoff from heavy rains, sewer overflows and other events. The program aims to enhance public awareness of these issues.
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