High E. coli levels close beaches in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

During Friday’s sweltering hot weather, some Maritimers visited lakefront beaches and were not able to swim due to high E. coli levels.

This was the case for Haja Nabay and her son who stopped by Albro Lake Beach in Dartmouth Friday, only to find out that the beach was closed to swimming due to high bacterial levels deemed unsafe for swimming.

"It was really hard on me because I was looking forward to getting my whole body into the cool water," said Nabay.

Titi Mashwama was a little surprised to see nobody swimming on a hot summer day but then saw the posted beach closure signs and a lifeguard approached to tell her the beach was closed to swimming.

"The first thing we see is there's no one in the water and that was a bit of a red flag," Mashwama said.

"Then we were told there was bacteria in the water and the beach is closed but it was open for people to come in and that doesn't make any sense."

Albro Lake Beach isn't the only supervised beach closed in the Halifax region because of high bacteria levels, Kearney Lake Beach is closed for the same reason.

Staff test the water quality at all supervised municipal beaches regularly, said Emma Wattie — HRM's environment manager. Recent tests show levels of bacteria levels that exceed Health Canada swimming guidelines, Wattier said.

"We sample weekly because bacterias grow and die off very quickly and so we need to have an on-the-pulse knowledge of that," said Wattie.

Samples are gathered at all 20 municipal beaches and testing will continue at both impacted beaches until safe levels are reached.

Wattie says it's not uncommon with the recent heavy rain for E.coli levels to register above health guidelines.

"We did have very heavy rain and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesdays and so that probably did have some kind of impact on it," said Wattie.

Sources of E.coli can come from human waste, untreated sewage and animal and wildlife feces, said Shalom Mandaville, a lake water scientist.

"People have dogs and cats, cats also produce fecal coliform and birds and all that," said Mandeville.

He cautions that people should avoid lakes near stormwater systems and swimming in freshwater lakes and rivers after heavy rains.

Mandeville also advises against feeding animals, especially near waterways and beaches.

In New Brunswick, the City of Saint John has closed Lily Lake Beach and Tucker Park Beach to swimming following high E. coli samples.

Further testing will happen in both provinces but testing doesn't point to what caused the increased levels of bacteria, Wattie said.

"We just know it's E. coli," said Wattie. "It could be from birds...it could be from dogs, it could be from humans, it could be from deer, there's multiple different sources."