POLL: Have you ever experienced a recreational water illness?
Toronto surfers looking for white caps by the mouth of the Humber River. (Photo via Frances Maas RECE)
Have you ever gotten sick after going for a swim? A day on the water should never result in an infection or illness. Unfortunately, this does happen. But there are ways to prevent this happening.
For the past two years, Waterkeeper has continued to work hard to increase accessibility to water quality information. And the province agrees – the public should know when water quality is not meeting recreational water quality standards. They announced their decision this past summer. (As an aside, it’s now October and Torontonians are still waiting to be notified.)
We need to hear from you.
Recreational water users are true ambassadors for swimmable water. Swimmers, paddlers, boaters, surfers, people who fish – you are the first to share your love for the lake. But you’re also the first to experience the negative side of poor water quality, whether that be with a small skin infection all the way to a serious illness. The effects of poor water quality can range.
If you’re a recreational water user, we're asking that you take our poll. Your response does 3 things:
- Confirms that you do use the waters recreationally.
- Increases our understanding of recreational water illnesses.
- Highlights the need for public water quality notifications.
If you’d like to add more information to your response or share your story, feel free to add a comment below. We hope the City will start notifying the public soon. But until then, Waterkeeper will continue to monitor Toronto’s sewage closely.
