Understanding Ontario Place: Looking Back to Move Forward
Ontario Place West Island Beach, an unofficial beach, has become the favourite ‘hidden gem’ of swimming in our city. It’s the most accessible site access point to recreational water for many who live in the downtown area. The beach has boasted clear waters and offers visitors peace and quiet that is otherwise elusive in the downtown core. Unfortunately, more recently, the beach has been the site of poor water quality that has caused many of its regulars to search for swimmable waters elsewhere.
We started monitoring the Ontario Place waters in 2019, and great news, the water met the recreational standard 84% of the time. On par with a Blue Flag beach. However, we’ve seen huge annual fluctuations in water quality since then, with pass rates varying between 30% and 90% between years (see full results here). Along with poor water quality, we and others have observed significant sewage and floatables along the water during multiple site visits. This includes the recent event, where over 50 condoms were found floating in the nearby waters.
Seeing condoms floating in the water at your favourite swimming site is concerning, to say the least. Not only for aesthetic reasons, but sewage carries bacteria that can affect your risk of contracting a waterborne illness and has incredibly harmful impacts on our wildlife and environment. Poor quality water lacks the ability to provide sustenance, economic value, social and cultural meaning. It’s our responsibility to keep waters clean, reciprocating what they provide for us. Sewage filled waters like this show us we might not be doing our part.
Through the community based water monitoring hub, and support from the Weston Family Foundation, our group of Swim Drink Fish staff and community scientists were able to expand the number of sites we sample in the area to include the western wall of the island. From there we were able to identify the source of this poor water quality. A combined sewer outfall that sits in the breakwall just northwest of the swimming area. This outfall was actively leaking sewage into the water during wet and dry weather. Results from our sampling consistently showed extremely poor water quality results, with some results as high as 19,863 e. coli/100mL (MPN).
Out of concern for the water and the people that love it, we got in touch with the City of Toronto. The City shared our concern, recognizing the value of swimmable water, and conducted an investigation of the area. The investigation explained that the sewage we’re seeing is likely a result of bypasses associated with the cleaning work that needs to be done ahead of improvements to the Western Beaches Storage Tunnel (WBT). A piece of infrastructure which was created in 2000 to reduce the amount of untreated storm and wastewater entering the lake via combined sewer overflows.
The WBT has historically been plagued with operational failures. This includes a failure in the pump system’s ability to empty untreated water stored in the system. From 2019-2021 the WBT underwent a Phase 1 retrofit to remedy some of these problems. Phase two of the project will include upgrades to the pumping system that will hopefully result in long-term improvements in water quality for the area, as initially promised by the infrastructure. This is all part of the Wet Weather Flow Master Plan (WWFMP), which is the long-term large-scale solution to Toronto’s CSO issue, and should overall improve water quality in the city.
Since the city was alerted of the pollution events and the investigation took place, we’ve seen improved water quality results at the beach and along the western wall, where the last two sampling results at the beach have met the recreational water quality standard of <100 e. coli/100mL (MPN). Suggesting that cleaning work has been paused because of our findings. We will continue to monitor the waters here and remain in contact with the city.
This preliminary improvement is great to see, and we commend the city for acting swiftly based on our concerns. However, there are still issues to address to make sure a situation like this does not happen again:
1. We need improved transparency around water pollution
Choosing to enter the water shouldn’t feel like a game of Russian roulette. If the community based monitoring hub did not monitor these waters, there would’ve been no way to know that this was happening. Hundreds of weekly water users would’ve been left unable to make an informed decision about entering the water based on water quality results, and with that, increase their risk of contracting a waterborne illness.
Transparency matters because it is the only way to support the current state of swimmability in Toronto.
There is a stigma around Toronto that we don’t have swimmable waters. However, contrary to popular belief, we have pockets of swimmable waters across our shoreline. Toronto is home to 8 Blue Flag beaches that consistently meet recreational water quality standards. The City of Toronto also has a water quality monitoring program that tests the water at our 11 public beaches daily from June 1 to Labour Day. This monitoring program can help people make an informed decision about where and when to enter the water as the water quality changes, which happens as frequently as the weather.
Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen more and more people discovering these pockets. Our Swim Guide platform has seen a 145% increase in users from 2019 to 2020, and the recreational water community has maintained that growth ever since. It feels as though Torontonians are finally starting to shake off the stigma that all of Toronto’s waters are unswimmable.
However, when we see pollution events like we saw at Ontario Place, the stigma is reinforced. ‘Condoms in the water’ joins the rhetoric of something we should expect, and those that were starting to dip their toes in the lake may decide to return to the pool.
While we do get some transparency through the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER), which requires the public reporting of the location and amount of discharge of all combined sewers (you can see our map here). The exact location of the outfall points are not disclosed. Nor is this system updated frequently enough to make a real-time decision as to how effluent may affect local water quality and public health. If this information was easily accessible, water users may have been able to more clearly understand the risks of entering the water in the area.
If we knew where, when, and why events like this happened, would we still put up our guard? If we’re able to fully understand the situation, maybe it wouldn’t be such an all or nothing approach to recreational water usage. Maybe we would be able to break down the fear of entering the water by replacing it with understanding.
In fact, we can actually take note from the passionate SwimOP group, who value these waters deeply and use the site year round. Upon learning about the poor water quality results didn’t get out of the water completely. Members instead moved to the nearby Humber Bay Park West (among other areas), another site the hub monitors that frequently meets the recreational standard. Because they understand the complexities of changing water quality and the issue of combined sewer overflows they knew they could continue accessing water, but had to rethink where it was safe for them to do so. Creating understanding is also the approach of our community based water monitoring hub, which helps community scientists increase their local water literacy, and understand the nuance of water quality in Toronto.
We can consider this event at Ontario Place West Island a prototype for how we should address future iterations. But, we should also act proactively, so that we can identify point source pollution issues, including, combined sewer outfalls so that recreational water users can understand the risks of entering the water before they wade into it. With increased transparency comes increased understanding, and understanding is necessary for movement towards a swimmableTO.
To address transparency, we continue monitoring. We work towards implementing real-time sewage monitoring for the City of Toronto so that we can understand when and where sewage is entering our water. Having this knowledge can help us all make an informed decision about where and when to enter the water, and help us understand the areas of concern that need to be addressed in the future. As Swim Drink Fish, we aim to work with the city to adopt our recommendations for a swimmableTO…
The implementation of real-time sewage monitoring, as is done in Kingston and Metro Vancouver, helps the public know when and where combined sewers are overflowing. If this system had been implemented in Toronto at Ontario Place, those that swim in the water could act with agency.
2. The issue of pollution entering our water
The issue of pollution entering the water is trickier to deal with. It is never okay for sewage to enter the water. However, this situation could be viewed as a catch-22 scenario, where the problem is part of the solution; It’s good that these necessary improvements are finally being undertaken along the WBT. However, it’s tricky to reconcile this vision of long-term improvement with the current situation, where condoms and fatbergs litter the water. Shouldn’t there be a way that sewage doesn’t enter the water?
In a way, we’re dealing with progress. But, how do we cope with issues that come in the wake of progress?
Historically, progress has connotated moving towards a ‘better’ future, without reflection on the past. The betterment that comes with progress has historically been decided by a select few, excluding the views of many who may bring viable solutions to our problems. When we reach out to our community, we see that there are many ways to approach the complex problems, and the solutions from our communities have and continue to exist.
Simply, our environment can also show us solutions to our water quality issues through reflection on the natural ecological systems in our environment. The earth has been keeping its waters clean for a ~very~ long time. Natural filtration systems, like wetlands and rain gardens, create clean waters. Green infrastructure is built into the WWFMP (exemplary of this is the Don Wetland Restoration). Showing us that taking a moment to reflect on solutions to problems might not always rely on ‘progress’.
In this situation, we might be a little too far down the pipes of progress already to look for alternatives. However, we can ensure that the environmental degradation associated with these long term improvements is worthwhile. To do this, we have to continue taking action now. We have to continue advocating for the protection of our waters so that long-term goals are addressed. And we have to continue to foster Toronto's relationship with the water so that when we achieve clean water, people are ready to jump in.
How can you continue accessing and advocating for water now?
Before heading to the beach, check the results on Swim Guide.
Continue using the swimmable waters that matter to you. When we swim in the waters we indicate that they are valuable and worthy of protection. Share your Watermark to protect these special water bodies.
Report pollution through the Swim Guide app
