2. Providing a Free Platform for Sharing Water Quality Data

Swim Guide App

What is the Swim Guide?

We developed the Swim Guide to seek an answer to one of our most asked questions, “Where can I go swimming?”. We realized that accessing information about water quality, swimming access points, safety information, and more was not very easy or centralized, making it difficult for people to know where to access water. 

Swim Guide compiles all the available information about recreational water quality and displays it in both a map and list view. It interprets and displays the data in an easily understandable way to make information about beaches as accessible as possible. We want people to swim and use our natural water bodies to foster connections and care for the water, and providing them with the tools to do so is at the heart of the Swim Guide. 

Beach Finder on Swim Guide Website

Swim Guide Success

Since its launch, Swim Guide has become the most popular beach information service in the world. It is active in 17 countries and has over 129 affiliates who use and upload data to it. Swim Guide has also been recommended as a tool for public education of communication of water quality data in the Health Canada Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality. 

Swim Guide x Blue Flag

Recently, Swim Guide partnered with Blue Flag International and has become the official host of all Blue Flag sites and their associated water quality information.This new partnership expands Swim Guide into new countries will include new beaches and marinas across the world in the database.

The Future of Swim Guide

It has become clear that there is a need for recreational water data to be transparent and easy to access. This not only acts as a tool for people to use when they want to go for a swim or visit the beach, but it also protects public health by informing people when water quality is not suitable for swimming. We will continue to expand Swim Guide to include more beaches globally. We also strive to have more data automated so that the results are as real-time as possible.