Another summer, another season of seeking out swimming holes to cool down.

      In the Pioneer Valley and beyond, millions of Americans are flocking to rivers, lakes and beaches to beat the heat. Whether stream walking, wading, swimming, surfing, tubing, paddle boarding, kayaking, canoeing or fishing, our waterways offer respite and fun on scorching summer days. But, too often, water pollution is ruining our enjoyment of these natural places.

This summer my favorite swimming hole on the Fort River in Amherst is once again out of commission because of consistently high levels of E. coli, a fecal indicator bacteria in the water. (Translation, poop.)

Untreated poop is getting into our water all over the place. According to the 2023 Beach Report issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, nearly a third of the freshwater swimming locations they sampled in Massachusetts last year exceeded safe levels of bacteria at least once. Nearly half of the Atlantic Coast beaches that were sampled had potentially unsafe levels of pollution on at least one day in 2022, according to EPA data compiled by Environment America Research & Policy Center.

Sometimes high bacteria counts cause public health authorities to close beaches or to post advisories. Other times, people just get sick. Scientists estimate that swimming in polluted U.S. waters causes 57 million cases of illness each year, with symptoms ranging from nausea and diarrhea to ear infections and rashes.

What’s putting clean water at risk?

Fecal contamination can come from animal waste that finds its way into streams and rivers, sewers can overflow, and runoff from streets, parking lots, roads, yards and homes plays a role, too.

How to improve water quality in favorite swimming spots?

Volunteers with the Fort River Watershed Association are conducting strategic testing to get to the bottom of where the pollution of my favorite swimming hole is coming from and identify solutions. If you’re interested in supporting this work you can donate to the Fort River Watershed Association at https://fortriver.org/.

And while the source of the pollution in the Fort River and other waterways may still be murky, the solutions aren’t. We can protect and improve water quality — at our local swimming holes, Massachusetts beaches, and at all of America’s waterways — by preventing runoff pollution.

Here are three common sources of fecal pollution and solutions to reducing their impact on rivers.

■Agricultural runoff: Buffer areas around waterways can keep manure from farms from reaching our swimming spots. Policy-makers can also encourage livestock operations to raise animals on rotational pasture, which can reduce agricultural runoff.

■Urban runoff: For areas with denser development, one proven strategy to reduce runoff pollution is to increase natural and green infrastructure. Investing in rain barrels, permeable pavement, urban green space and green roofs, can make a big impact.

■Sewage overflows: We can prevent sewage pollution by repairing, modernizing and expanding access to sewage systems. By passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (otherwise known as the bipartisan infrastructure law) in 2021, Congress provided more than $11 billion for sewage and stormwater projects and authorized $14 billion more. This funding is a sizable downpayment on the actual need for wastewater infrastructure, which EPA estimates at $271 billion.

Taking action for clean water

The coming Paris Olympics have elevated the conversation about the need for clean water.

For more than a century the River Seine, which courses through the heart of Paris, was deemed unswimmable. But, the city of Paris has been working with Olympic organizers to improve water quality so triathlon and marathon swimming events can safely take place in the river. Thanks to infrastructure investments, they are making progress.

This week, France’s sports minister even took a symbolic dip in the Seine in a bid to ease concerns about water quality. This effort shows that, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Back home in the United States, our Congress is considering reauthorizing the BEACH Act, which would increase beach testing and give the public more information about when fecal bacteria are in the water. I encourage local water athletes to sign onto this letter, urging Congress to invest in clean water and allocate funds to the continued testing for bacteria in these waterways by passing the BEACH Act.

Our waterways do so much for us. From hosting international sporting events, to cooling off at the end of a sweltering summer day, protecting these places from pollution is an investment worth making.

Johanna Neumann of Amherst has spent the past two decades working to protect our air, water and open spaces, defend consumers in the marketplace and advance a more sustainable economy and democratic society. She can be reached at columnists@gazettenet.com.