The Lake Huron Centre For Coastal Conservation
Advocating Wise Stewardship of Lake Huron's Coastal Ecosystems
4.0 - Beach Postings and Public Complaints
  Figure 5— “Red” and “Blue” public notice signs used by Huron County Health Unit |
Each of the three Health Units along Lake Huron approach beach posting differently. All three will generally post a beach if two consecutive sets of sample results exceed 100 E. coli/100 mL. Huron County differs somewhat, as it has a two-sign system. Permanent “Blue” signs are posted at all of the main beaches in the County. The Blue signs warn that pollution levels are elevated after a rainstorm and that high bacterial counts are possible for up to 3 days following rain or heavy wave action. When the geometric mean of two consecutive sets of sampling results exceed the acceptable limit, a “Red” sign replaces the Blue sign, indicating hazardous bathing conditions (see Figure 4).
The Grey Bruce Health Unit has recently adopted a similar two-sign system. The Huron County Health Unit posts its weekly beach testing results on its website and also operates a water quality telephone hotline. From a public education and health protection standpoint, it would appear that the Huron County Health Unit has the most effective surveillance and public reporting system.
Bruce County data has large spatial gaps between monitoring locations and less frequent monitoring than other health units in the study area (biweekly or monthly compared with weekly sampling). Water quality monitoring results in Huron-Kinloss Water Testing Program for Pine River and Point Clark appear to indicate that recreational water quality in that area might be poorer than the Health Unit data would suggest. More frequent monitoring (at least weekly), and the establishment of a greater number of stations between Point Clark and Kincardine would be worthy of consideration.
While the Huron County Health Unit had complete information on water impairments over its 12 years of data, it did not have complete information on beach postings or public complaints over this period. It did have information on the location and duration of when beaches were posted with red signs in 2000 and 2001.
Information is presented here in beach-days (the sum total number of days that beaches were closed). 2001 was the worst year, in that Red signs were posted a total number of 354 beach-days at 18 locations.
The most impaired beach was Black’s Point (south of Goderich) with five postings totaling 49 beach-days. In 2000, Red signs were posted a total number of 260 beach-days at 6 locations. The most impaired was Ashfield Township Park (near Kintail) at 66 beach-days, closely followed by Black’s Point at 64 beach-days.
Table 2 shows the duration of postings (in days) for each beach sampled by the Health Unit for the two years of record.
Lambton County Health Unit recorded annual beach postings since 1991. Over that 11 year period, the Health Unit posted the beaches in that area 84 times. The greatest number of postings occurred in 1995 (12 postings) and 1991 (11 postings). The data showing the duration of each posting was available for 1990 to 1995 (ABCA, 1996) and 1999 to 2002 (Lambton County Health Unit, 2002). The duration of postings (in beach-days) for each beach sampled by the Health Unit is provided in Table 3.
The St. Clair Region Conservation Authority received some public complaints in 1995. At Port Franks, a cottager reported that his children developed ear infections during the July 15-16 period. Another cottager from the Highland Glen area reported that her children were swimming in the lake (August 12) and contracted serious eye infections. The children were taken to Sarnia General Hospital. The water was noted to have been rough and murky.
In Bruce County, the only record of beach posting in the study area was at Station Beach in Kincardine in 2002 for a duration of 13 days. The Grey Bruce Health Unit did have a record of public complaints received since 1991 and the information is presented in Table 4. While the Health Unit will investigate complaints received, they do not undertake testing of algae. The Health Unit relies on the Ministry of Environment to carry out such testing, and the Health Unit passes the information on to the public (Kestner, 2003).
In 2000, the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation summarized incidences and complaints of water quality impairments in Clarks Creek mouth, Pine River mouth and at Amberley Beach all in the Point Clark area. Black floating masses with a distinct sewage odour were observed in these locations in July and August (see Figure 6). In the case of the Clarks Creek incident, dead fish were noted (see Figure 7). Investigation and lab reports by MOE confirmed that the black masses consisted of decaying algae. No analysis was made to determine the nutrient status of the waters.
 Figure 6—Black, sewage-smelling material washed up on beach at Point Clark (rotting algae) August 2000. |
 Figure 7—Dead fish in area creek at Point Clark, where rotting algae was floating into the lake August 2000. |
Most water quality related complaints by the public are directed to the Provincial Ministry of the Environment. The Ministry of Environment received a number of complaints within the Township of Huron in the period from 1989 to 2002. Four of these were directed to the Spills Action Centre in Toronto while the remainder where directed to the local MOE office in Owen Sound. Map 5 shows the geographic locations of complaints and the dates that complaints were received. Numerous letters of complaint were received by the MOE Minister's office for the Pine River and Clark Creek area over the period 2000 to 2002 (D. Boyd, pers. comm., 2003).
MOE’s Owen Sound office received numerous public complaints during the years 2000 to 2002 along the Lake Huron shoreline. The complaints commonly referred to incidences of black, slimy material with a manure or sewage odour. The locations of these complaints was noted to have occurred from Amberley to Southampton. Samples taken on three occasions confirmed that the material was a combination of algae, diatoms and other organic material. Having confirmed the composition of the material, the public began to question where the nutrient enrichment was originating and why this problem was becoming more apparent over time.
The MOE also received calls regarding dead birds and fish on area beaches. These complaints were redirected to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
A significant number of complaints were also received by the Ministry of Environment in recent years concerning the construction of an intensive agricultural operation near Point Clark. Complaints related to the concern by the public that large livestock operations, often utilizing large quantities of liquid manure, may have a long-term impact on water quality.
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The Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation P.O. Box 178, Blyth, Ontario, Canada N0M 1H0 Phone: (519) 523-4478 Email: coastalcentre@lakehuron.on.ca |
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