The Heart of Summer: A Closer Look at Our Dedicated Hub Staff
It goes without saying that summer is our busy season. Our Recreational Water Monitoring Hubs have been on the move and whether you’re in Edmonton, Kingston, Toronto, Vancouver, or even Victoria, you’ve likely seen our staff out and about monitoring sites or helping share the wealth of knowledge that is water literacy. This could have been at the water’s edge or maybe at a local advocacy event. We’ve been helping share water literacy information in these cities since May!
This work is only possible because we have incredible and passionate teams across Canada. We wanted to take this opportunity to share a bit more about our staff and what they’ve been up to this summer.
Edmonton Hub
Shaugn Coggins and Abi Brown have been leading the way at the Edmonton Hub this summer. They’ve had the unique opportunity to help expand our presence in the city all while monitoring sites to ensure water quality data is accessible for recreational water users in Edmonton.
Tell us a bit about your connection to the water.
Abi Brown: Growing up in Edmonton, the River Valley was one of the first places I got to connect with water and my local ecosystem. In my opinion, one of the most valuable aspects of the river valley in Edmonton is its function as a wildlife corridor through the city. I have seen beavers, deer, a wide diversity of birds, and even moose using Edmonton’s river and creek areas. I love being able to share the water with the amazing plants and animals that also call this area home.
What experiences drove you to a role working towards a swimmable, drinkable, fishable future?
Shaugn Coggins: I have always loved spending time out on the water. Growing up in Alberta, I remember not being able to swim in some of the lakes that were close by due to pollution, algae overgrowth, and swimmer’s itch. This left me with a sense of loss at a young age for the local environment and for the ability to connect with it. These experiences definitely helped nudge me down an environmental career path. After pursuing an Environmental Science degree at university, I found myself gravitating toward work related to the protection and restoration of our marine and freshwater ecosystems.
What excites you about the future of the Edmonton Water Monitoring Hub?
Abi Brown: I feel that this work in Edmonton is coming in at a critical time for the river valley. There are more recreators out in the river than I have ever seen before. And with the continuing discussion of the creation of a National Urban Park in Edmonton’s river valley, having accessible information about the quality of the water, and potential threats to water could be critical to the decision-making process. There are so many people already connecting with the water in Edmonton, I feel that there is so much potential to tap into that community to increase water literacy and advocate for improvements to our water infrastructure.
Toronto Hub
This year in Toronto we’ve had Megan Coad, Isabelle Oke, and Charlotte Reid running the show. They’ve been working hard to spread awareness of the nuanced issues that Toronto waterfront faces all while sharing love for Lake Ontario.
Tell us a bit about your connection to the water.
Isabelle Oke: My maternal family has a deep emotional tie to the Baie des Chaleurs and its surrounding waterways. My mother grew up near the bay and spent her childhood diving in a nearby river. I visited her hometown most summers in my childhood and spent many days at the beach or in my grandmother's apartment with the bay visible from her window.
With time, I've grown to recognize the feelings of peace, inspiration, and creativity I get when spending time at creeks and lakes near me. I'm delighted at every chance I get to interact with the vegetation and creatures that populate these spaces too.
What experiences drove you to a role working towards a swimmable, drinkable, fishable future?
Megan Coad: I grew up with access to clean and biodiverse water and when I moved to go to school in Hamilton quickly had that access removed from my life. It was here I realized what a privilege it truly is to have access to water that isn't of concern to human and animal health. It made me sad and disturbed to see how much of our freshwater is at risk and deteriorating in value both from a human and ecosystem perspective because of the impacts humanity has had on it. It became my goal to work in water protection and Swim Drink Fish was a perfect fit for me to work towards this goal.
What excites you about the future of the Toronto Water Monitoring Hub?
Charlotte Reid: So many exciting things are happening in Toronto. A few of my favourites include engaging youth through Harbourfront Camps, launching the Adopt-a-Site program, and expanding our volunteer opportunities. One great thing about the Toronto Hub is that being in a city, we have many opportunities to chat with passers-by who ask about our work. Every interaction is an opportunity to educate about our water systems and learn about people's experiences and perceptions of Lake Ontario.
Kingston Hub
This summer in Kingston, Taylor Villa and Olivia Rideout helped expand our work and our presence in this wonderful community. Kingston is a place with a deep admiration for recreational water and there is nothing quite as special as getting to monitor sites here.
What experiences drove you to a role working towards a swimmable, drinkable, fishable future?
Taylor Villa: I’ve had a lot of experiences with the water and worked in a few positions that have driven me to work towards swimmable, drinkable, fishable water. I also had the opportunity to work with Swim Drink Fish directly while I was a member of the summer staff at the Kingston Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. Seeing firsthand the work being done at the Kingston Monitoring Hub led me to want to be a part of that myself and pursue a career in this branch of environmental monitoring!
What excites you about the future of the Kingston Water Monitoring Hub?
Taylor Villa: What I’m really excited about is how many opportunities we have to expand our sampling sites and connection with the Kingston community! Kingston is a really special place. There is clearly such a deep and unique connection with the water, you can see it all throughout the city and the way people talk about the water. To me, the future of the Kingston Monitoring Hub is about expanding that connection with the city and further fostering that interest and value that people have for the water. It is also about using that connection to identify more bodies of water that people value so that we can begin to sample additional sites, further expanding our reach.
Vancouver Hub
Dana Turner, Madeleine Ankenman, and Madison Scott have been instrumental in ensuring a smooth transition during significant changes in Vancouver. Their hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed and they continue to make a positive impact towards swimmable, drinkable, fishable water in Vancouver.
Tell us a bit about your connection to the water.
Madison Scott: I grew up in Nova Scotia spending my summers on the Bras D'or Lake. Some of my earliest memories involve swimming with my cousins, diving for sea stars and crabs, snorkelling and watching the fish and jellyfish all around me. I remember it teeming with life and being full of biodiversity. As the years passed, gradually the biodiversity began to decrease. Sea stars became rarer and rarer, the shoreline became a monoculture of mussels. The change in the ecosystem I loved so dearly inspired me to pursue education in marine biology and then eventually fall into a career in conservation. I would love to someday bring back the biodiversity of my memories, and help to protect other ecosystems from suffering the same fate.
What excites you about the future of the Vancouver Monitoring Hub?
Madeleine Ankenman: I am excited to help it grow and work with many community members to inspire them to connect with the waters, and hopefully clean up our, and other municipalities' waterways.
What has been the highlight of working at Swim Drink Fish thus far?
Dana Turner: I am privileged to work with an amazing team of people whose pool of passions, perspectives, expertise, and talents challenge, encourage, and support each other to grow and create wonderful things together.
I am privileged that my work involves doing what I love and working in an environment that I love, each and every day – being around water and working to protect it.
Victoria Hub
Victoria is our newest Community Based Water Monitoring Hub. Katie Wilson has had a very exciting role this summer, helping launch the hub, and discover new and potential sites around the city. We can’t wait to see how this hub grows and the impact it’ll have on Victoria.
What experiences drove you to a role working towards a swimmable, drinkable, fishable future?
At age 15, I was introduced to my now good friend who informed me about ocean plastic pollution and the impacts it was having on marine life. This was a catalyst that drove me to pursue an Environmental Studies and Geography degree so I could eventually work in the environmental field and help develop solutions to pressing issues. On my first day of university, I unexpectedly joined the Surfrider Foundation UVic club which turned into four years of leading beach cleanups and engaging students on ways to reduce their plastic consumption.
My first experience considering the importance of water quality happened when I was living in a fairly remote location and the well pump broke, preventing us from accessing water. While we could have purchased bottled water from the store, we chose to collect jugs of water from the river in front of the house. For one week we used the water for all of our daily needs and most importantly, for drinking. I had never questioned the safety of drinking the river water which made me realize the significance of safeguarding it and instilled a greater sense of appreciation.
What has been the highlight of your summer at Swim Drink Fish thus far?
One of the biggest highlights of working for Swim Drink Fish is learning how to gather information for a waterbody by going into the field and observing the multitude of factors that could be impacting its quality. Being able to visit and interact with the location I am sampling, in particular, places I have previously swam at, solidifies the concept of connecting to a place and wanting to protect it.
Swim Guide
Working tirelessly behind the scenes has been our Swim Guide team. This summer Emma Vandendries came on board as our Swim Guide data assistant alongside Or Denemark and Georgia Cross-Bermingham to ensure all the data that’s collected is readily available on our open data platform.
What excites you about the future of Swim Guide?
Emma Vandendries: There are many exciting upcoming developments for Swim Guide! Recently, Swim Guide version 4.0 was released, which updates the look of Swim Guide and allows us to build in more features in the near future. Swim Drink Fish has been constantly working to improve the platform and we have had many discussions about longer-term goals, such as including more information where possible about a beach’s current conditions (beyond recreational water quality results), updating how people engage through the photo and pollution reports, and using analytics to inform us about Swim Guide’s reach and engagement as well as water quality trends of different regions and beaches.
When I think about the future of Swim Guide, I see it continuing to grow in its impact in connecting people with water to further environmental protection. I am also excited by its influence regarding open data and affiliate capacity building. Swim Guide is excelling in the movement towards providing open data and encouraging other groups such as public health departments to make their data open and accessible. Swim Guide also collaborates with other groups who govern and care about their local waterbodies (known as Affiliates) and provides them with greater capacity as a platform for them to amplify their water quality results. I am optimistic that we will see many more Affiliate groups join Swim Guide to share water quality results with the public.
Tell us a bit about your connection to the water.
Or Denemark: It is hard to pinpoint where my connection to water comes from. But the thing that comes to mind is beach days as a kid. A beach day for my family meant waking up early and rushing to the beach with a big blanket, a cooler full of watermelon, a sun umbrella, and sunscreen. Once we found a good spot, we would stay there until the sun came down. Immersing yourself in the water for a full day allows you to notice a lot. The changes in the tides, the sealife leaving tracks in the sand, how the waves shape the shore, and how the water truely reflects the everchanging sky.
What has been the highlight of your summer at Swim Drink Fish thus far?
Georgia Cross-Bermingham: I love hearing so many diverse stories and perspectives on water. Over the summer, I have connected with many wonderful Swim Guide affiliates, beach managers, and community members, and I am always inspired to learn what they are doing to keep our waters clean and accessible.
While summer comes to a close, we can’t thank everyone enough for all their hard work and dedication. There are plenty of ways to get involved in the movement for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water:
