MANTEO

Participants in the Outer Banks Triathlon will not be doing any swimming through Shallowbag Bay because of unanswered questions about the quality of the water.

The event on April 26 and 27 will now be a duathlon, said Jim Snyder, president of the Outer Banks Triathlon Club.

"When it comes down to it, it's a great event with a great location," Snyder said. "We're still going to be doing the bike, we're still going to be doing the run, but we're not going to get into the water."

Persistent violations at the town's wastewater treatment plant, including unacceptable levels of fecal coliform, nitrogen and chlorine, have earned it a place on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's "Enforcement Watch List."

Snyder said it's not possible to find another place to swim that would be compatible with the number of bikers and runners in the event.

"We're not going to endanger people," he said. "It's kind of sad, because right now, the town is being labeled a

polluter... but no one says there's major issues out there."

J.D. Potts, manager of the state's Recreational Water Quality Program, said the bay is not classified for swimming so it's not being monitored for swimming. But the location of the sewer plant's outfall in Shallowbag Bay can't be dismissed.

"That's where the risk comes in - the fact that it has a discharge," he said. "And that's the risk, regardless of the performance of the plant."

Potts said an area by the outfall, about a half-mile from the bridge to Roanoke Island Festival Park, is being monitored for shellfish sanitation. Since 1998, a swimming advisory sign has been posted there. Additional signs will be put up soon, he said.

When it's warm, children and teenagers can often be seen jumping off the bridge and the docks to swim in Shallowbag Bay.

"Up until now, we didn't realize that that water had that much recreational usage," he said.

Al Hodge, regional supervisor for the state Division of Water Quality in the Washington, N.C., office, said Shallowbag Bay has been classified "SC" since 1961. In the water quality rating system, "S" stands for saline. The "C" is given to waters where the "highest intended use" is for drainage and fish propagation, he said.

Swimming waters are classified "SB," with the "B" for full-body contact.

Hodge said his office also does not sample the bay to test for swimming safety because it's not classified for swimming.

"If the county or the city or someone made a request to evaluate those waters for full-body contact, then we would re-evaluate it," he said.

No matter the results, he said, he would put a buffer zone around the outfall.

Without testing, Hodge said, there's no way he could say whether Shallowbag Bay is safe to swim in. The issue with swimming waters is almost entirely with fecal coliform levels, not the other levels that also contributed to the violations at the sewer plant.

"That discharge has been there a long time," Hodge said. "All of a sudden for that issue to come up - to swim or not to swim - is kind of interesting."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com