Source Information
A dedicated group of citizen scientists run a community water sampling program on Toronto Island in collaboration with Swim Drink Fish. They are part of the Toronto Water Quality Monitoring Hub, which is helping to support communities in their efforts to obtain accurate and up-to-date water quality information in areas with no official monitoring. Trained community members monitor recreational water quality at three locations on Wards Island during the summer months. The guidelines followed are Ontario’s Provincial Water Quality Objectives from 2014, set by the Ministry of Environment at 100 E.coli per 100 millilitres of water.
Water is sampled for E. coli and total coliform at all sites. Sampling occurs once a week on Tuesday morning from June 6th to September 10th, 2020. Results are available 24 hours after samples are collected.
Beaches are posted when the geometric mean of 5 samples collected within a given swimming area and within a 30-day period exceeds 100 E.coli / 100 ml of water. The Ministry of the Environment F-5-5 procedure says that a clean beach meets water quality criteria at least 95% of the swimming season, even if it is near a sewage pipe or combined sewer outfall.
Test results are expressed as Most Probable Number (MPN) of E.coli per 100 ml by using the IDEXX Quanti-Tray/2000 MPN Table.
A beach is marked Green when the geometric mean of 5 samples results are equal to or below 100 E.coli / 100 ml water.
A beach is marked Red when the geometric mean concentration (minimum of five samples) is equal to or above 100 E.coli / 100 ml water, according to Ontario’s water quality guidelines.
A beach is marked Grey when there are no current results or there is no available information.
Results are posted as soon as lab results are available. Results will be communicated through the swim guide website and app.
To see a full sample results table visit the Waterkeeper.ca website. Results are also available by email at megan@swimdrinkfish.ca or by calling The Swim Guide +1 (416) 861-1237.
