City of Nanaimo is about to start testing to ensure water at the city’s popular outdoor swimming spots is clean.
During the summer months, the city monitors water quality at swimming areas to be sure water is clean for swimmers and wildlife, the city said in a press release.
Public works department staff, with help from the Nanaimo Port Authority, take water samples from various locations in and around beaches and waterways that feed into them, the press release said, and samples are then tested by a lab for fecal coliforms.
Animal feces that gets into lakes, contributing creeks, drainage ditches or the storm sewer system can raise coliform and E. coli levels, said the press release. Beaches are closed if fecal coliform levels exceed provincial health guidelines, it said.
Testing will occur at Brannen Lake, Colliery Dam Park, Departure Bay, Long Lake, Sway’ A’ Lana Lagoon at Maffeo Sutton Park and Westwood Lake.
To help keep water clean and beaches open, pet owners are reminded to take their dogs to designated dog parks and off-leash areas. With shore birds and other naturally occurring wildlife in and around water bodies, adding pets to the mix could elevate the levels of fecal coliforms and the city has a bylaw in place for all of Nanaimo’s lakes, streams and waterfront swimming spots, except for those designated as off-leash areas, that states dogs cannot be on beaches or in the water between the beginning of May to the end of September.
Parks with designated off-leash areas are May Richards Bennett Pioneer, Beaufort, Westwood Lake parks, Invermere Beach, Northfield, Wardropper, Colliery Dam, St. George Ravine parks, Gallow’s Point on Protection Island, Cable Bay Trail, Beban Park and, from October to April Diver Lake.
“This annual program is instrumental in ensuring the water quality in and around some of Nanaimo’s popular swimming spots,” Richard Harding, general manager of parks, recreation and culture, said in the press release. “You can do your part in keeping Nanaimo’s waterways and beaches clean by not disposing harmful materials such as feces, paint, drywall or oils into ditches, catch basins or any water source.”
To view the latest beach reports, visit the city’s website at www.nanaimo.ca/goto/beachreports.
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