City of Toronto in "defining moment" for its waterfront states 2018 Toronto Harbour Monitoring Report
A Toronto Community Monitoring Program volunteer collects a water sample from Toronto Harbour.
Our third annual Toronto Harbour Monitoring Report is clear: Toronto’s waterfront is in a defining moment. The City of Toronto can embrace the harbour’s water quality problems, or let sewage pollution alienate people from the waterfront for years to come.
For three years, Waterkeeper has been the only group testing Toronto’s Inner Harbour recreational water quality.
In 2018, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s Toronto Community Monitoring Program sampled, observed and documented the Toronto Harbour twice a week from May to September. More than 900 water samples were collected this year from nine sites along Toronto’s shoreline. This year’s results were different than the others.
More people are connecting with Lake Ontario now than ever before. Waterkeeper saw people swimming, surfing, fishing, boating and paddleboarding along the waterfront. Toronto’s Harbour has become one of the busiest recreational spaces in North America.
Yet, Toronto’s shoreline remains vulnerable to sewage pollution. This summer Waterkeeper documented a pattern of high E. coli levels and floatable sewage debris. One particular sewage spill proved how polluted Toronto Harbour can become.
In this defining moment, we provide five recommendations to the city in our latest Toronto Harbour Monitoring Report. The recommendations and monitoring report are also being delivered to Mayor John Tory and all members of Toronto City Council.
Read the complete report below and join the 2019 Toronto Community Monitoring Program here.