Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Mooney's Bay beach has been closed as the city investigates a potentially harmful blue-green algae bloom on the water. Blue-green algae are a type of bacteria called cyanobacteria that can form large blooms on water, said Emily Morrison, program manager of the healthy environments team at Ottawa Public Health (OPH).
Sandpoint Beach and Belle River Beach are closed as both sampled E.coli levels of 1000. While swimming is not recommended at Colchester Beach, Holiday Beach, Point Pelee North West Beach, and Seacliff Beach due to E. coli levels above 200. Cedar Beach and Cedar Island Beach remain open and are safe for swimming. The health unit conducts beach water quality monitoring at eight public beaches at least once a week to ensure the bacterial counts in the water are below provincial standards.
But we don’t stop there. Merely looking at water, when we’re camping or otherwise, is just the beginning. After lapping it up and pouring it over ourselves to feel better, we pour it on our pets, our plants and our dusty vehicles after all those road trips. And so, I gently remind you, me, all of us, dear readers, especially during these hot dry summer months, that that thar blue stuff is precious. So treasure it! I remember staying with a family in Tokyo who’d known my great-aunt in Canada. After taking a nice cool shower on a muggy August day, my host gently commented, “Ah, Canadians love water.” My showers became much shorter after that, but he was right. We Canucks love our water and use it like wastrels, even during the Stage 2 restrictions now in effect.
Ottawa Public Health announced Tuesday that swimming was still not recommended at the city’s four public beaches due to rainfall. Water conditions frequently decline after major storm activities, as occurred over the weekend. Water samples collected at the beaches continue to show elevated levels of E. coli bacteria. The counts remain Britannia Beach samples continued to be highest, while Mooney’s Bay, Petrie Island East Bay and Petrie Island River beaches, remained above recommended levels. Westboro Beach is closed for the year for renovation work.
A popular Gatineau, Que. beach is closed as temperatures begin to warm up. The National Capital Commission says Leamy Lake Park beach is closed for swimming until further notice due to the "class D water quality results." The NCC's website notes the water quality at Leamy Lake is "polluted." Beaches in Gatineau Park at La Peche Lake. Blanchet and O'Brien beaches on Meech Lake and Breton, Parent and Smith beaches on Philippe Lake are open.
Not many homes in Halifax have a secret staircase that tunnels down four storeys to a vast concrete cavern. But stepping inside the modest brown house on Duffus Street, it's clear this isn't a normal home. The building is owned by Halifax Water, and is used to conceal the entrance to a tunnel that descends into a pumping station hidden beneath Barrington Street. "It was designed to fit into the neighbourhood so it wouldn't be as intrusive or ugly," said Jake Fulton, a spokesperson for Halifax Water.
Canadians are proud of the Great Lakes, and for good reason—they supply two large countries with a lot of fresh drinking water, support irrigation and other agricultural activities, and are crucial in shipping and transportation in the area. Plus, they’re great for sailing, swimming and watching the sunset. “Lakes are great indicators of what’s going on in the watershed,” says Sapna Sharma, an associate aquatic ecology and limnology professor at York University. “They give a good idea of what environmental degradation may be happening on land.”
Swimming and other water activities are expected to resume in Charlottetown Harbour on Wednesday, three days after 6,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage was discharged into the water. The leak began Sunday when construction crews on Water Street hit a sewer pipe by mistake, sending enough sewage to fill 2½ Olympic sized swimming pools into the harbour.
The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) has closed Chocolate Lake Beach for swimming after confirming high levels of bacteria in the water. In a news release, HRM said recent test shows bacteria levels at the beach exceed Health Canada’s swimming guidelines. The beach is closed for swimming until further notice. However, HRM staff will continue testing the water until bacteria levels return to safe levels and will notify the public.
Kinap Beach in Porters Lake is reopened for public swimming after it was recently closed because tests showed high levels of bacteria in the water. Swimming was prohibited at the beach after testing Saturday indicated high bacteria levels exceeding Health Canada guidelines. Halifax Regional Municipality said in a news release that follow-up testing showed the water is again safe, in line with Health Canada guidelines.
Halifax Regional Municipality has closed two supervised beaches to swimming until further notice because of high bacteria levels in the water. The municipality announced Saturday that bacteria levels at Kinap Beach in Porters Lake exceed Health Canada’s swimming guidelines. Friday evening, the municipality issued a news release saying Penhorn Lake Beach in Dartmouth had been closed. HRM regularly tests the water quality at all supervised municipal beaches, as well as two unsupervised beaches, during the summer.
Swimming is not recommended at six local beaches and one is closed due to high levels of E. coli. The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says six beaches — Belle River Beach, Colchester Beach, Holiday Beach, Mettawas Beach, Point Pelee and Seacliff Beach — are not currently recommended for swimming due to the presence of the illness-causing bacteria. The beaches are under a warning, meaning the waters are unsafe for swimming, but they remain open.
Algoma Public Health is warning people who draw water directly from the St. Mary's River or who have a well near the shore not to drink the water due to an oil spill. The spill does not affect the Sault Ste. Marie municipal drinking water system. The health unit says if your drinking water intake is located east (or downstream) of the Algoma steel mill and the Great Lakes Power plant, there is a risk of contamination.
The south shores of Lake St. Clair are under a blue-green algae bloom advisory. The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit issued the warning on Friday, saying that people should avoid swimming if the water looks cloudy or like "green paint or pea soup." "Infants and young children [under age six] should not swim or play in the water. For adults and children six years of age and older, they should swim with caution and rinse off after swimming," the health unit said in a media release.
Alberta Health Services is warning the public of fecal bacteria in a lake southwest of Edmonton. Elevated levels of fecal bacteria were detected through testing lake water at Zeiner Park Beach at Pigeon Lake, located about 100 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, and AHS is advising people not to swim or wade in the water there. The current levels of bacteria could lead to gastrointestinal illness if someone swallows the water. Contact with the water could lead to skin, ear and eye infections, AHS says.
Three Metro Vancouver beaches have been closed to swimmers after high E. coli levels were detected in the water. English Bay Beach, Snug Cove Beach on Bowen Island and Oasis Beach just south of UBC's Wreck Beach have been closed to swimmers until further notice. "Vancouver Coastal Health provides daily water quality reports and today's sample counts exceed the safe level for swimming," according to a Tweet from Vancouver Park Board.
A group of Grade 7 students delivered some shocking results to the Region of Queens Municipality council meeting December 22. The South Queens Middle School students had been working on a Social Studies project to test fecal bacteria, or enterococci, levels in the Mersey River. The students found readings of between 230 and 340 enterococci to 100 millilitres of water. Under Health Canada regulations, it is not advisable to swim in water where there is 70 enterococci/100 ml. And at 170 enterococci/100 ml, the water should not touch skin.
