Swim Guide

It shows you which ones are closest to you, and popular beaches nearby. Created by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Swim Guide helps to protect public health by showing people where the water is clean enough swim and alerting them to where the water is contaminated. Today, we have water quality information for 7,000 beaches, river, lakes, and swimming holes in Canada, the USA, Mexico, and New Zealand. And we're adding new locations every day. Since our launch, more than 600,000 individuals have used Swim Guide to find a clean place to swim. Greater than 60 nonprofit and public organizations from four countries have joined the Swim Guide Affiliates Program. Swim Guide’s momentum is the result of more and more people in more and more places asking “Is the water safe to swim in?”

We've helped our users answer this question, preventing thousands of waterborne illnesses simply by making it easy for people to know when their water is contaminated and when it is clean for swimming. Further, Swim Guide is helping to identify sources of water pollution, so that together we can act to restore and maintain swimmable, drinkable, fishable waters. Swim Guide is working to strengthen the social, economical, and cultural connections between communities and their beaches to ensure long-term protection of clean waterfronts and to build public support for restoration of polluted areas.