Lack of rain keeping beaches open

By Kristen Oelschlagel

BELLEVILLE (23/07/12) Beach goers at Frankford Park enjoy being able to come to the beach knowing the water, which is tested by the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit, is safe for swimming. Photo by Kristen Oelschlagel.

The lack of rain this summer may be causing problems for some, but it’s keeping local beaches bacteria free and open.

“This year we haven’t had a lot of rain so I suspect that’s a big factor in why we haven’t had a high number of postings,” said Andrew Landy, senior public health inspector for the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit.

This summer there have been two beaches in the area posted as unsafe for swimming because of high levels of bacteria. Both of those postings lasted only a week each. In 2011, there was a total of 13 weeks of postings at five different beaches.

Landy said typically there are three to five beaches posted in a summer. He said this year the number of postings is a lot lower than in the past few seasons, which could be because of the lack of rain.

“It’s been a hot summer, which you would think would bring more bacteria. But rain is one of the big factors that elevates the levels of bacteria. The rain washes a lot of stuff into the water so a lot of things on the surface, such as animal droppings, would get flushed into the waterways,” Landy said.

The health unit samples five area beaches weekly from mid May to August and four beaches bi-weekly. They also test eight beaches monthly.

Each time a beach is sampled, five samples are taken and then analyzed at the public health laboratory. If a count of more than 100 E. coli bacteria for 100 milliliters of water is found, the beach is posted as unsafe for swimming.

Landy said he doesn’t know how the rest of the summer will go, but hopes the beaches continue to not be posted.

For more information and the latest updates on public beach postings, visit www.yourhealthunit.ca and click news/beach reports.