Surprise! Toronto’s beaches are not revolting
The shores of Lake Ontario are slowly, sometimes grudgingly, coming out of their industrial past. Still, most Torontonians would be wary about letting their dogs swim in the lake, much less their children. According to the Star, this is a shame, since most of Toronto’s beaches are in surprisingly good condition.
Toronto beaches just can’t seem to shake Lake Ontario’s dirty reputation even though seven of them — including Woodbine — are rated among the best in the world by the international Blue Flag Programme.
The blue flag is an eco-label awarded to beaches that meet strict environmental and safety standards.
“It’s not easy to get a blue flag,” says Toronto Water spokesperson Cheryl San Juan. “These are world-class beaches.”
The good news is having one hell of a time getting out. The Globe and Mail was evangelizing about our blue havens last August as well, but as the Star reports, people still aren’t buying it. Even if our beaches rival anything in Muskoka, as San Juan says, maybe people in this city won’t jump in until they see Kate Hudson, Tom Hanks and a plague of Jet Skis.
• Are you afraid of the lake? Chill out! [Toronto Star]
• Don’t let the goose poop fool you: Toronto’s beaches are squeaky clean [Globe and Mail]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/surprise-torontos-beaches-are-not-revolting/&title=Surprise! Toronto’s beaches are not revolting&picture=https://cdn.torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/BeachScene.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_32579" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Lake Ontario: no longer just for skeptical glances (Image: 416 Style)"][/caption]
The shores of Lake Ontario are slowly, sometimes grudgingly, coming out of their industrial past. Still, most Torontonians would be wary about letting their dogs swim in the lake, much less their children. According to the Star, this is a shame, since most of Toronto’s beaches are in surprisingly good condition.
Toronto beaches just can’t seem to shake Lake Ontario’s dirty reputation even though seven of them — including Woodbine — are rated among the best in the world by the international Blue Flag Programme.
The blue flag is an eco-label awarded to beaches that meet strict environmental and safety standards.
“It’s not easy to get a blue flag,” says Toronto Water spokesperson Cheryl San Juan. “These are world-class beaches.”
The good news is having one hell of a time getting out. The Globe and Mail was evangelizing about our blue havens last August as well, but as the Star reports, people still aren’t buying it. Even if our beaches rival anything in Muskoka, as San Juan says, maybe people in this city won’t jump in until they see Kate Hudson, Tom Hanks and a plague of Jet Skis.
• Are you afraid of the lake? Chill out! [Toronto Star]
• Don't let the goose poop fool you: Toronto's beaches are squeaky clean [Globe and Mail]){kind=link}
Having taken my dog to swim at Cherry Beach and Balmy Beach over the last few days, I can say unequivocally that in this hot and humid weather, the beaches STINK. The city’s water quality hotline (416-392-7161) verifies that several beaches contain high e-coli levels.
Cherry beach is probably the crappiest beach you could choose to swim on because it’s enclosed by the Leslie Street Spit so you’re not getting the freshest water off the lake. Balmy Beach I don’t know about but isn’t it in scary proximity to Ashbridges Bay sewage facility? The area around there frequently stinks of sewage, hot or not. That said I have swum most pleasantly at Hanlon’s Point which is on the outer, Southern edge of the island. And it was amazing.
I have made a suggestion to CANADIAN beaches that they should have beach groomers ..like atv type pulling rake style rakes along beaches groomeing the beaches or a section of frost fence dragged along smoothing and cleaning the beach sand sponsored by a local atv dealer or the city,,this would help to keep the beach clean of wood and sea weed and what ever washes ashore…use your mind to help keep CANADIAN beaches clean …
I’ve been sailing on the lake for over 10 years and yes the water is clean – in places….
About a 1 km out from shore its very nice and I can’t detect any polution. (My boat is VERY wet so I get dunked frequently).
However, there are areas, like Ashbridges Bay, that are not clean. The water treatment plant can dump raw sewage, after large rains, straight into the lake. Its a well known issue at city council. They allocated an extra 25 million to expand the holding tanks after local residents complained bitterly.
Water quality has improved over the years, but there’s still work to be done.
dear lord – if this is true what does a blue flag mean? must be one of the rankings group which routinely makes auckland equal to vancouver…