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Southport Cottage Creek swimming advisory lifted after new water tests

State officials removed a swimming advisory at the Cottage Creek public kayak launch on October 14 after tests found bacteria levels had fallen below recreational water quality standards.

SOUTHPORT – The state has lifted its swimming advisory at the public kayak launch in Cottage Creek at the end of W. West Street in Southport, following new tests showing bacteria levels below state and federal recreational water quality standards.

The October 14 announcement ends an advisory posted October 8 after samples collected October 6 and 7 exceeded the applicable 104-enterococci-per-100-milliliters threshold, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

A North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries field worker uses a YSI meter to measure water conditions. Official program file photograph, not the October Cottage Creek bacteria tests.

State officials reported that the latest samples were below the standard and that the sign advising against swimming, skiing and other contact with the water had been removed.

The advisory concerned a specific sound-side public access site, not a countywide beach closure. Its removal is a location-specific update; it does not establish current test results for every other Southport or Brunswick County swimming area.

DEQ’s Recreational Water Quality Program continues sampling coastal waters. Readers planning water activities should check the latest advisories for the precise access location rather than relying on an earlier notice.

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