Extra water testing at Hamilton’s Valens Lake shows it’s safe to fall out of your canoe
Extra water quality testing in Valens Lake suggests you can feel safe swimming - or toppling off your paddle board - anywhere in the reservoir this summer.
Each summer, Hamilton's public health department tests for E. coli in the water at the popular conservation area beach once a week and posts online whether it is safe to swim. (Ingesting high levels of the bacteria can cause infections and diarrhea.)
But the Hamilton Conservation Authority decided to start its own weekly testing this year at locations all around the 75-hectare reservoir after an E. coli outbreak last September among seven visitors to Valens spurred a public health decision to close the beach.
We wanted to get a better handle on the quality of the water coming into the reservoir," said watershed planning director Scott Peck.
A public health track-back" effort ultimately found no link between the outbreak and Valens beach, the city said Wednesday.
But Peck said the authority still felt the testing experiment would be worthwhile in a lake crammed with kayakers, canoeists and paddleboarders each summer.
Detailed test results are so far only available from November to April in a report recently presented to the authority's board.
But Peck said only a couple of tests this year in either the reservoir or its feeder streams have shown E. coli levels high above the provincial safe swimming standard - in both cases after storms. There was also one high reading last November, when testing started.
The beach itself has also tested clean in every weekly sampling by public health since May. It's encouraging to see," said Peck. We want people to know, whether you're at the beach, or paddling or fishing elsewhere on the lake, it's safe for you to do so."
The authority is testing at four creek or stream outlets to the lake as well as near the dam that controls outflow to Spencer Creek. Once public health testing stops at the end of summer, the authority will also continue testing at the beach every two weeks.
Those test results are public information - but you'll have to ask for them. Right now, Peck said the results are simply collected and presented in occasional reports to the board.
Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com