Swimming Season Kicks Off at Local Beaches
Written by Comms Team, June 13, 2023
Public Health Inspectors Resume Testing Beach Water Quality
Beach water testing by Peterborough Public Health (PPH) has resumed as the weather has warmed up. Testing includes public beaches in Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations, and in the County and City of Peterborough. Beaches will be regularly tested to ensure water quality conditions are safe for recreational use.
“We are fortunate to have many beautiful recreational swimming areas in our region that are usually free to access and enjoy. Sampling helps ensure that beaches are safe for swimming and recreational activities. Residents are encouraged to follow any advisories or precautions related to beach use,” said Julie Ingram, Manager of Environmental Health. “Swimming in contaminated water can cause someone to become sick. Sampling beaches during the summer months is an important activity to help protect residents and visitors from waterborne illness and ensure that everyone can have a safe and fun beach season.”
The routine surveillance program for all public beaches runs from mid-June until the end of August. The following beaches are sampled daily, Monday to Friday,
- Beavermead Park (2011 Ashburnham Drive, Peterborough)
- Rogers Cove (131 Maria Street, Peterborough)
Most public beaches in the county are sampled at least once a week, including
- Buckhorn Beach(12 John Street, Buckhorn)
- Crowe’s Line Beach(240 Crowe’s Line Road, Trent Lakes)
- Curve Lake Henry’s Gumming (150 Chemong Street S, Curve Lake)
- Curve Lake Lime Kiln Park (150 Whetung Street E, Curve Lake)
- Douro North Park (251 Douro Second Line, Douro-Dummer)
- Ennismore Waterfront Park (1053 Ennis Road, Ennismore)
- Hiawatha Park (1 Lakeshore Road, Hiawatha)
- Jones Beach(908 Jones Beach Road, Bridgenorth)
- Lakefield Park (100 Hague Boulevard, Lakefield)
- Norwood Beachat Mill Pond (12 Belmont Street, Norwood)
- Sandy Beach(1239 Lakehurst Road, Buckhorn)
- Selwyn BeachConservation Area (2251 Birch Island Road, Selwyn)
- Squirrel Creek Conservation Area (2445 Wallace Point Road, South Monaghan)
- Warsaw Caves Conservation Area (289 Caves Road, Warsaw)
The following public beaches are samples once a month from June to August,
- Chandos Beach (2800 County Road/Hwy 620, North Kawartha)
- Quarry Bay (1986 Northey’s Bay Road, Woodview)
- Belmont Lake (376 Miles of Memories Road, Belmont)
- Kasshabog Lake (431 Peninsula Road, Havelock)
- White’s Beach (26 Clearview Drive, Trent Lakes)
Though PPH will always maintain its sampling schedule, the following factors may result in high levels of bacteria causing the beach to be unsafe for swimming between sampling periods:
- Heavy rainfall
- Large numbers of waterfowl
- High winds or wave activity
- Large numbers of swimmers
There are several things that you can do to help ensure the water quality stays safe:
- Do not feed waterfowl
- Do not let children swim in soiled diapers
- Pick up your garbage
- Clean up after your pet
Water samples are submitted to the Public Health Laboratory for bacteriological analysis. Samples are tested for E. coli bacteria, an indicator of fecal contamination in the water. It takes approximately 24 hours for PPH to receive and analyze the water quality results from the lab.
How to Interpret Water Quality Results:
| SAFE | UNSAFE | CLOSED |
| When E. coli levels* are less than or equal to 200 E. coli cfu/100mL of water, the public beach is considered “safe”. | When E. coli levels* exceed 200 E. coli cfu/100mL of water, the public beach will be posted as “unsafe”. This means the water is unsafe for recreational use, including swimming. When this happens, PPH will update the beach status on our website and post signs around the beach area to inform the public. An unsafe beach is re-sampled within one business day and the signage is removed when |
When a significant risk to human health is identified, a beach will be posted as “closed”. Beach closures are rare but may occur when there are signs of hazardous or infectious material in the water, a toxic spill, or when there is blue-green algae bloom.
In these situations, swimming is not permitted, and beach access is restricted or denied. |
*Indicated levels are based on the geometric mean of five samples. A single sample of greater than 400 cfu/100mL will also impact the beach status.
Residents can find the status of public beaches at any time by visiting www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca and searching for “beach testing results” or by calling 705-743-1000, ext. 232 weekdays.
A complete list and an interactive map of all the beaches that will be tested for the 2023 summer months, is available as well at www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca/beach-testing-results
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For further information, please contact:
Media Relations
media@peterboroughpublichealth.ca