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Toronto has 7 Blue Flag beaches, but Torontonians still scared to swim there.

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There was an article in the Star today saying that many Torontonians are still scared to swim in Toronto's beaches, despite the fact that 7 are now designated Blue Flag, with an 8th, Bluffer's Park Beach, a Blue Flag candidate.

I must admit, when I first moved to Toronto I too was a bit concerned about swimming in the Toronto beaches because of the water quality. However, while I'm not a big beach user, these days I don't really have that concern anymore, at least for the Blue Flag beaches. It seems that Ontario's guidelines of 100 bacteria/100 mL is more stringent than national and international standards. I wouldn't have any problem bringing my friends' kids to the local beaches, as long as the recent testing has been OK.

BTW, it's interesting that Bluffer's Park Beach is now a Blue Flag candidate. I just remember that the summer 2007 test values were bad, but it seems way better in 2010, which is I guess why it's now a candidate. I wonder what's changed since then.
 
I swim in it any time I go to the beach and haven't been sick or ill after any time. The water seems fine.
 
I would have gone swimming at Hanlan's on Sunday, but the water was really cold. That's the main deterrent for me from Lake Ontario beaches in Toronto. I'm not concerned about the water quality because I see the blue flag. It's just too damn COLD. Wasaga and Sandbanks have warmer water I find.
 
I've been swimming and taking my dogs swimming at Toronto beaches since the '80's and have been trying to convince people ever since it's not as bad as so many make it out to be. I wouldn't want to put my head under the water or get a mouthful but beyond that most beaches are usually safe. Consider wearing flip flops or sandals due to zebra muscle clusters, they'll cut your feet if you step on them and ruin a day at the beach. Beaches are tested daily for water quality, watch for posted flags to determine if the water has safe e coli levels or check here before heading down. Depending on the summer, by late June to mid-July the water at most beaches has usually warmed up enough to enjoy a swim.
 
i for one can't swim in a lake where my drinking water comes from. but i can sure as hell flush my toilet into said lake. ;)


p.s, do they test the sand (on the shore line & in the water) as well?
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I wouldn't want to put my head under the water or get a mouthful but beyond that most beaches are usually safe.
Click to expand...
So there's at least some of that apprehension still there. While you'd go but not put your head under, others go one step less and won't even go into the water.

What Toronto is trying to do is get people to actually use the beaches as beaches elsewhere. ie. Would you put your head under the water in cottage country? If so, then it's probably fine to do it at the Blue Flag beaches in Toronto too.

BTW, I was looking more at the stats for Bluffer's Park Beach from 2007 and earlier. There were some very high E. coli counts back then. In fact in 2005, it was closed over 90% of the season. I contacted somebody at the city after reading the article and they said they (Toronto Water - Storm Water Management) along with the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority made a berm that retains or redirects wetland waters after a rain, preventing it from spilling onto the beach and into the lake there. Now the E. coli (which by testing is from animals/birds) gets retained in the wetland or diverted north of the beach and then sinks into the soil before reaching the beach. All of that, along with encouragement to visitors NOT to feed the birds seems to have helped immensely. If this beach hits Blue Flag status this year, I'll be very impressed, enough to take my friends' kids there for a hot summer swim, with our heads under water some of the time.

The other option in my area is the beach at The Beach, but on a hot summer day parking is killer and the bazillion people there sometimes makes it annoying.
 
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Sunnyside now has an enclosed section of treated water. Unfortunately it's still got plenty of slimy seaweed floating about.
 
Seaweed is the least of your problems west of Sunnyside toward Humber. The amount of trash along the shore is astounding.

I'm sure there are plenty of really lovely beaches in Toronto, just not the ones near me. Notice how nearly all the Blue Flag beaches are on the Toronto Islands, with two more on the east end. (Cherry/Clarke Beach is marked as no swimming). So, anything west of the Islands, not up to par yet. I'd say it's more the condition of the beach themselves though, and not necessarily the water.
 
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are any of these 'blue flag' beaches near TTC routes? or near Etobicoke?

since the drop in swim is now $2 at city pools, I can no longer afford to go there now.
 
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