Activity all but ceased last week on part of the lower Saluda River.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control issued a no-swim advisory last Tuesday, because of high bacteria counts in the Saluda Shoals Park area. Carolina Water Service allowed sewage to seep into the river.

On Saturday- at the Moffitt Street entrance to Riverwalk- almost no one was on the river. It’s a site that usually has crowds of people using the river on the weekend. Especially in mid-June. The river, like the riverbank, was all but empty most of the day, except for a boat or two.

At the Gervais Street Bridge, the parking lot across from the West Columbia Amphitheater had only a few cars. It is normally overflowing on a summer Saturday.

By Sunday, the advisory was lifted and tubers, kayaks and canoes were back on the water.