Behind the swimming advisories in N.C.

Currituck Sound, N.C.

Carefully stepping around duck poop on the dock, Shane Heagy dipped a sanitized bottle into a swimming hole at Hampton Lodge Camping Resort on the Currituck Sound.

The water sample would be tested for enterococci, a bacteria found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Its presence could be an indicator of harmful pathogens and prompt the North Carolina Recreational Water Quality Program to issue an advisory about that spot.

The agency tests 240 swimming areas

in the ocean, sounds and coastal rivers. When it finds that bacteria levels are too high, an advisory sign goes up and the media get a news release. All summer, notices of advisories get posted on online news sites and in newspapers.

The program began in 1997, following a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council that called North Carolina a "beach bum" state regarding water quality, said Erin Bryan-

Millush, spokeswoman for the Recreational Water Quality Program.

In the mid-1990s, North Carolina was hit by several storms, increasing runoff into the rivers. Hog lagoons leaking waste and fish kills caused by pfiesteria were both in the news.

In 2000, the Beaches Act, enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, required all coastal states to test.

Most of the time, the advisories are temporary. If ducks have recently fouled the water, as they had at the Hampton Lodge site, then the sample could indicate high amounts of enterococci. In such cases, the advisory may last only a day and dangers are minimal.

At three sites on the soundside - Southern Shores, Colington Harbour and near Jockey's Ridge - the water rarely gets flushed by the current and often has problems, Bryan-Millush said.

An advisory can be prompted by a single sample showing high contamination, or when the geometric mean of five samples hits a level of 35 enterococci per 100 millileters of water. Geometric mean is a mathematical formula that tends to reduce the effects of very high and very low counts.

Most popular swimming sites get tested weekly during the summer. In the winter, the testing slows to once a month. Only 1 percent of 6,000 tests done annually results in an advisory, according to the agency's website.

Enterococcus can be an indicator of such harmful parasites as cryptosporidium, the number one cause of waterborne disease in North Carolina, Bryan-Millush said. Cryptosporidium can cause a sick stomach, diarrhea and vomiting, she said.

In 2005 and 2006, a total of 78 outbreaks associated with swimming and affecting 4,412 persons were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was the most reported ever in a two-year period, according to the CDC website.

Back at the Hampton Lodge Camping Resort, Heagy used an adjustable pole made for retrieving golf balls from water hazards. The poles have been custom-fitted with three plastic holders so that the sampler can fill three bottles at once. Heagy's bottle, 5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter, fits perfectly into one of plastic holders, and he fills it with water.

"That's pretty much it," Heagy said. "I put the cap on and return it to the lab."

Before heading to Grandy, he pulled up an advisory sign posted last week, the only time this summer. Adjacent to the short dock is a boat ramp that could also affect water quality.

But at the north end of that part of the sound, called Waterlily, the water flows in and out regularly with the wind-blown tides. This site was clear for swimming again.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com