Investigating Municipal Beaches: Lessons from Bluffer's Park

You can read this report in its entirety here.

In 1994, Ontario's Ministry of the Environment introduced a new provincial standard for water quality protection in our cities: Levels of Treatment for Municipal and Private Sewage Treatment Works Discharging to Surface Waters, or F-5 for short. Following the introduction of F-5, the unassuming Procedure F-5-5 was launched. It requires municipalities with combined sewer systems to prevent sewage from entering our waterways, to protect water quality and ensure all beaches remain open 95% of the swimming season.

F-5-5 is innovative: its purpose is to protect both human health and aquatic life. Its water quality objectives are some of the best in the world (E. Coli: 100 cfu/100 mL). F-5-5 also requires municipalities to develop pollution prevention strategies as well as end-of-pipe? solutions. If followed, the practices set out in F-5-5 would make any city's waterways cleaner, reopen its beaches, and improve habitat for fish, birds, and plant life. waterkeeper.ca/beaches

1n 1994, Ontario's Ministry of the Environment introduced a new provincial standard for water quality protection in our cities: Levels of Treatment for Municipal and Private Sewage Treatment Works Discharging to Surface Waters, F-5 for short. Following the introduction of F-5, the unassuming Procedure F-5-5 was launched. It requires municipalities with combined sewer systems to prevent sewage from entering our waterways, to protect water quality and ensure all beaches remain open 95% of the swimming season.

F-5-5 is innovative: its purpose is to protect both human health and aquatic life. Its water quality objectives are some of the best in the world (E. Coli: 100 cfu/100 mL). F-5-5 also requires municipalities to develop pollution prevention strategies as well as end-of-pipe? solutions. If followed, the practices set out in F-5-5 would make any city's waterways cleaner, reopen its beaches, and improve habitat for fish, birds, and plant life.

Nearly a decade after the introduction of F-5-5, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper observed that many of the lake's beaches remain closed and sewers still empty into our rivers. This anecdotal evidence inspired us to investigate sewage contamination on six rivers around the province. In 2002 and 2003, we sampled water for bacteria in Hamilton, Kingston, Sarnia, St. Catharines Toronto, and Waterloo Region. We monitored beach closures around Lake Ontario and in the Sarnia region. We also obtained government sampling data to augment our own findings.

In September 2004, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, along with Environment Hamilton, submitted a request to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario to review procedure F-5-5 based on the fact that a decade after the procedure was introduced, every munici- pality studied on Lake Ontario still failed to meet its objectives. In January of 2005, the province officially launched their investigation. The Province's findings were due to be released in early 2006, but the investigation seems to have been delayed. Despite overwhelming evidence that shows Ontario's cities are ignoring Procedure F-5-5, the Ministry of the Environment is kicking off another swimming season in silence.

While waiting for the province's report, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper continued its efforts to monitor beach closings. This resulted in our 2005 Beach report “ a culmination of the entire swimming season's municipal beach closure figures for most major cities and regions on central and western Lake Ontario. These results were based on the provincial standards as outlined in Procedure F-5-5 (that each beach is supposed to be open 95% of the time). A ranking system was im- plemented: A ranking of Good (1) meant the mu- nicipality had met the standard, a ranking of Fair (2) meant that at least 50% of the municipalities' beaches met the standard, and a ranking of Poor(3) meant that less than 50% of the municipalities' beaches met the standard. Every munici- pality scored a ranking of Fair (beach closures rang- ing from between 9-42% of the time), with only St. Catharines receiving a score of Poor, as the beaches were closed 64% of the time. No municipality received the top ranking.

After filing a number of Freedom of Information requests, Waterkeeper also discovered that no municipality had ever filled out a Beach Survey. The survey is an important form created by the Ministry of Health to determine beach safety. Completion of the Survey prompts municipalities to thoroughly investigate all possible reasons of why beaches continue to be closed and devise solutions to reopen the beaches.

Our research drew our attention to Toronto's Bluffer's Park Beach, which was closed 93% of the 2005 season. These results continue a legacy of highly frequent closings at this particular beach. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper decided to study Bluffer's Beach to prove that the Ministry of Health Survey can be a powerful tool for winning back our beaches.

WHY BLUFFER'S BEACH?

Despite the high frequency of its closings, Bluffer's Park Beach is one of the most favoured beaches in the GTA. It is an extremely popular destination for local residents as it is the sole beach servicing most of Scarborough. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper launched an independent investigation to determine why Bluffer's Beach was so frequently closed. This included a sampling program of direct discharges into Lake Ontario (both streams and storm sewers), the sampling of surface waters in the park itself and the sampling of the swimming area at the beach on eight dif- ferent occasions throughout the 2005 season. With the help of scientist David Dillen- beck, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper produced this report.

SUMMARY OF LAKE ONTARIO WATERKEEPER'S SURVEY OF BLUFFER'S BEACH PARK

• The City of Toronto has created a contain- ment area at the base of the bluffs adjacent to the northerly side of the Bluffer's Park Access Road. This containment area col- lects several sources of water, including precipitation that has fallen on the parklands as well as stormwater from the streets, driveways and parking lots of the residential areas.
• This containment area discharges via a stream across Bluffer's Park Beach directly into Lake Ontario.
• E-coli levels in the discharge stream are extremely high
• The City of Toronto should eliminate this E- coli, treat the E-coli or divert it away from the park in order to reduce the number of beach closings.