Water sampling: what are we doing? Q&A with Mark Mattson

Mark Mattson tests an outfall on the Humber River for E. coli bacteria during an interview with The Globe & Mail, circa 2002.

Last week I sat down with Mark Mattson, President of Swim Drink Fish and the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, to get more insight into how the organization protects water.  I have been working here for five months as part of the Toronto water quality monitoring team. This summer I went down to the Inner Toronto Harbour twice a week to sample the water for levels of E.coli bacteria and to record environmental observations with the monitoring hub Coordinator, Elise Mackie, and a solid group of volunteers. I am an oceanographer by training, so I was incredibly grateful and excited for the opportunity to do scientific fieldwork right at home in Toronto.

When it comes to understanding the essence of Swim Drink Fish, sitting down with Mark is the place to start. He encouraged me to listen to radio shows that he and Krystyn Tully, the Vice President, recorded from 2007-2010, called Living at the Barricades. He said I should read the weekly blogs that him and Krystyn published from 2004-2012. We have a massive library of documents, pictures, voice recordings and videos. He wanted me to resurface what Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (Swim Drink Fish’s first initiative) has done over the past 18 years. Learning the history is essential to understanding how Swim Drink Fish has arrived where we are today, and what the next best steps are for the future.  

I started digging through the material, and I am already amazed, excited, and inspired. Mark and Krystyn went into communities where industries and dump sites were contaminating water and threatening human and environmental health, where physical barriers were blocking waterways and fish habitats. Many times they turned these situations around and reconnected communities to their local waters. They went to these sites, collected samples to look for harmful contaminants, and gave voices to community members. They proved that polluted waters were harming the environment and people, and when they exhausted all other options, they prosecuted the offenders. 

Fifteen years ago, Krystyn put it like this: “Every Waterkeeper advocates compliance with environmental laws, responds to citizen complaints, identifies problems and devises remedies to clean the water.” As I am learning the stories of Mark and Krystyn’s journeys, I am impressed that they stepped up and trail-blazed a path to change things. So, after spirited discussions with Mark about what Swim Drink Fish does and why the strategy seems to be working, we sat down and I asked him a few questions so you can hear his answers, too.

Mark Mattson and Krystyn Tully working to protect water in 2004.

Q1: What was the first place you sampled and what were you looking for? 

A1: It was December 5th, 1996 on Belle Island in Kingston, ON. There was a closed, city-owned landfill leaking into the Cataraqui River. At the time I was the volunteer Executive Director of the Environmental Bureau of Investigation, and we worked with a citizen activist and an environmental justice group who were concerned that the contaminants coming from the landfill were toxic to fish. We determined that this was the case by sampling the water and proving that lake trout exposed to that water experienced acute lethal toxicity. The Province of Ontario joined the case, then the City of Kingston was convicted of violating the Fisheries Act; the public’s attention was captured. 

(Side note: Kingston is now doing some of the most exciting infrastructure and restoration work on Lake Ontario, which goes to show how things change.)

Q2: Why is it important that individual citizens are taught how to sample and participate in citizen science programs?

A2: It is important we teach people to sample so they have influence over their own lives. Natural waters are so extensive that protecting them takes community. Therefore, we need to build these skills into the general population. If we can teach people to go down to the water, collect data and share that information with the public through platforms like the Swim Guide, change happens. 

Each area has distinct threats. Everyone gets their drinking water from somewhere different, swims somewhere special to them. When people learn to sample and share that information, they are being given a skillset to protect their waterbody without having to wait for a “professional” to come in to identify the problems. 

Q3: What do you know/ think about sampling now that you didn't know 20 years ago?

A3: Anyone can collect information and take water samples. You need to know what chemical or bacteria you are testing for, and follow the instructions. It’s not hard. 

Back in 2001, it was almost unheard of for citizens to collect their own surface water samples and use the results to protect public health and the environment. Today, we almost take it for granted that citizens and nonprofits can not only collect samples but own and operate their own mini-labs.

Q4: What has been consistent in the work you have done since 2001?

A4: Sampling. In every case we have worked on, in every project, we have gone to the water to collect samples and information to build our cases ourselves. 

Q5: From the casework that you did, what was the most challenging part? rewarding?

A5: The challenging part was time. At first it was just me, Krystyn, and a few friends and supporters taking samples. We quickly realized that in order to make significant change, we needed a movement of people, a community to be doing this too. 

The rewarding part was being able to prove a problem existed and then find a solution to get it solved. We did this in Moncton, New Brunswick, and helped get a causeway removed that was choking the Petitcodiac River. We helped cleaned up the waters in Kingston and Bluffers Beach in Toronto. We realized we could fix problems once we identified them through sampling. We dispelled the myth that people could not swim in urban areas. People came back to the water in each of those cities, and water in those locations is central to life there now.

Surfers riding the tidal bore on the Petitcodiac River in July 2013, after removal of the causeway. (Photo credit: mrbango1138)

Q6: What is the biggest lesson you learned through being a Waterkeeper?

A6: It takes a community to make significant change. We need more than one Waterkeeper. That’s why we’re creating community monitoring hubs. 

Q7: Was there a turning point in the direction of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper / Swim Drink Fish, and if so when was it?

A7: Yes, it was when the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the federal Fisheries Act, and other environmental laws were amended around 2012, so that protection of water and fish was significantly reduced. We could no longer limit ourselves to enforcing laws. We needed to build a movement of people who cared about swimmable, drinkable, fishable water. 

Q8: How did Swim Drink Fish come up with the Monitoring Hub idea?

A8: It started when we built the Swim Guide, a website and app for people to update water quality at waterfronts throughout the world. In Canada, public health units were monitoring water quality. In the USA, nonprofits were often doing the monitoring themselves. 

We were inspired by what we saw in the US, but cost was a big barrier. After a massive sewage spill hit Toronto in 2013, people woke up to the importance of being able to test water quality wherever and whenever the public needed data. We garnered enough support through a crowdfund-raising campaign on Indiegogo to get our own program up and running.

We immediately recognized the power the monitoring program had to engage the public, train volunteers, and build water literacy (the skills and knowledge to protect water). Combine that with the Swim Guide’s ability to communicate the results to the public, and we had something really special. 

We started getting approached by community groups who wanted to monitor their local waters. Swim Drink Fish staff taught these groups how to monitor recreational water quality, and we’re now supporting hubs around the Great Lakes, in Vancouver, and in Edmonton. 

Q9: Why are the monitoring hubs working to achieve Swim Drink Fish’s goal, from your years of experience, how do you know they are working?

A9: I know that the monitoring hubs are working from our track record. Wherever we sample, we identify problems and implement solutions. Kingston had no downtown swimming beaches for decades. Now the city is tightly connected to Lake Ontario, the Gord Edgar Downie Pier being a prime example. This is Canada’s first deep water urban swimming pier, which I heard it was used by an astounding 150 000 people this past summer. The pier was funded through Swim Drink Fish’s network. 

The city and local utility are really committed to engaging Kingstonians around water quality issues. They put in a system to notify people in real time when sewage flows into Lake Ontario, the first of its kind in Canada. This transparency is the goal, where water users are informed. Kingston is an exemplary model for how cities should behave in keeping people safe.

People jumping off the Gord Edgar Downie Pier in Kingston into Lake Ontario in July 2018. (Photo credit: Swim Drink Fish/ Dylan Neild)

Water quality is being talked about in Toronto as well. A strategy to remove floating debris from the Toronto Inner Harbour is being developed by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. As well, four seabins have been installed in Toronto’s harbours to clean up floating pollution. We were at PortsToronto’s launch for that program a few weeks ago and are inspired by how far things have come recently. The city also says it is speeding up plans to manage stormwater to avoid flooding and sewage spills. I see the movement that has grown up around this issue as being successful - things are so different than they were 20 years ago. 

Q10: Why is it necessary we expand the water monitoring program now?

A10: Now is the perfect time for two reasons. First, because we finally have the technology in place, so that whoever wants to participate in this citizen science movement can. Second, because youth need and want this more than ever before. Young people are desperately concerned about the state of the environment, and they want to take action. The importance of health and wellness is gaining immense popularity among Canadians, yet almost 30% of us spend less than 30 minutes outside a week! Water sampling gets people outside and reconnects people to water. We empower people with the tools to  take action, and hope emerges.

Q11: What is your biggest concern for the future?

A11: That people won’t know what they’re missing. It worries me that not interacting with water will become normalized, and that people won’t know what the big deal is. Krystyn explained this well, that pushing people away from the wilderness is the most dangerous thing of all. 

Q12: What opportunities do you want to provide for young people?

A12: Hope. I want to give them a blueprint for a course of action that will be successful. That if they follow this course, problems will be dealt with. If they can win locally, they can win globally.

Water sampling training for hub coordinators in Toronto, spring 2019. Left to right: Gabrielle Parent-Doliner, Swim Guide Program Manager, Jonathan Riberdy (Zhiibaahaasing First Nation hub), Gregary Ford (Lake Erie-Niagara hub), Elise Mackie (Toronto hub) and Chelsea Antoine (Zhiibaahaasing First Nation hub) (Photo credit: Swim Drink Fish)

With that insightful conversation, we hope to leave you with hope and confidence that being a part of the Swim Drink Fish movement is driving change in making more of the world’s waters swimmable, drinkable and fishable. It all starts with going down to the water and collecting information, with the support of community. 

To get involved, please connect with our Toronto Monitoring Hub in May 2020 to join our sampling team. Also, look out for our report launch of the Toronto Hub’s findings from 2019’s sampling season. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram so you don’t miss the announcements.