Wellington Beach safe for swimming
Administrator | Jun 24, 2016 | Comments 29
UPDATE June 30 – Wellington Beach has now been posted as safe for swimming.
June 24 – The Hastings Prince Edward Public Health monitors bathing beach water quality at designated public beaches within its jurisdiction. Bathing beach water quality is monitored by the collection and analyses of water samples for the presence of E.coli bacteria. When E.coli bacteria exceed the provincial standard, the bathing beach is considered to be unsafe for swimming and an Unsafe for Swimming warning sign is posted at the beach.
For information on the status of Provincial Park beaches visit www.ontarioparks.com/alerts
Filed Under: Local News
LOL I like Barney’s idea maybe you could call your device a sh*t disturber Barney 😉
Pretty sure the bacteria on the wellington beach was caused by excess turtle poo. We need a turtle cull and in order to circulate the water we should install a wind turbine on the beach with a bladed transfer shaft to churn up the water (kinda like a wave pool)off shore. That will bring in the tourists.
Ocean boats can Com into our port.Any boat that can come up the seaway can come in I believe
One would think the Wellington councillor and even a committee of citizens would be more vocal about this yearly problem.Anybody heard anything? Has it been addressed and the answer is too expensive so just forget about it.
To Judy…I recall reading of a load of steel delivered to the Port from Europe (forgotten what country) Now was this off loaded onto a smaller ship of lake boat size before delivery? The article indicated it was shipped from overseas then picked up by truck for transport to the destination. Wish I could find the story.
Not so concerned about potato French fries as I am heavy metals. What we need to know is if the drinking water is tested for mercury and other metals. As for the Wellington Beach I don’t understand why the source of e-coli bacteria has not been identified year after year.
We are right to be concerned about mercury but it’s not the only danger to the health of our children. It’s scary to see parents feeding French fries to their toddlers at the Golden Arches. Teens from the high school eat pizza and poutine for lunch and walk down Main Street munching heart attacks on paper plates. There is bound to be an upswing in coronaries as our younger generation begins to age. Somebody should be worrying about that.
Mercury has been a concern for many years my Father was a Fisherman and was warned about consuming to much fish by an Officer from Fisheries and Oceans that fish here and in Lake Ontario were contaminated back in the 70s. So high mercury levels are nothing new here…
There were a lot of substances dumped into the water back then by people who should have known better. The presence of mercury and other heavy metals is a real serious concern. I am not sure why the Port is being pushed for development. A handful of jobs is not worth the further damage to the bay or the truck traffic on a road that is in need of replacement.
I know that Fred because I saw the boats and there were never any newspaper reports of shocking incidences of cancer or other diseases in the Gazette or the Picton Times. In fact most of the people who lived on the shores of the harbour in those days survived to a ripe old age. We are just as much or more in danger from all pf the additives pumped into our food these days.
Jason is quite correct, in my opinion, about the cause of Wellington Beach pollution. The breakwater was devised supposedly to help keep the channel to West Lake open for boats. It currently impedes the water flow to the east along the beach and creates an eddy pool of e-coli “soup”. Before the breakwater was built stuff was moved along and diluted to safe levels. Solution – remove the breakwater or make gaps in it to allow free water movement. We still pay to dredge the channel frequently so I’m not convinced the breakwater is of any benefit. Used to be a beautiful swimming beach when i was a kid.Too bad!
The Wellington Times article raises significant concerns for the health & Safety of residents and huge costs for the municipality.
Well read the facts as they have presented and then base a comment. I don’t know why you would trash the Times over any other media outlet. You seem to have an agenda.
I do not read that
How do you know that Marnie? There is a higher rate of cancer here for some reason. Why do we have heavy metals including the deadly mercury on our Bay floor. Perhaps from what you speak.
In the early 1950’s big boats came into Picton Harbour. It did not poison our drinking water.
Apparently samples at Picton water intake indicate heavy metals including Mercury. The full article outlining issues and potential risks and costs is at Wellington Times. Quite a read!
all ships must be of a size to pass through the locks-what mercury are you talking about anyway? why would this bay be any different that any other in the great lakes?
Whatever, doesn’t really matter other than they are huge with a draft that just clears the bottom. Thus the bay floor gets churned up. That disrupted floor containing mercury and God knows what else can enter the drinking water intake.
Wellington gets posted every year. What happens is a natural occurrence in warm weather. Jason is entirely correct. It will pass.
Ocean tankers in the harbour? hah..you are confused. They could only be the large lake freighters that are commonplace in the Great Lakes.
You mean the big ocean tankers stirring up all the mercury laying on the bottom of the harbour by our drinking water intake?
This news is truly sad to hear. A beautiful natural resource is unusable because it is polluted to the point where humans could be in danger if they use it. The nicest days of the year and this beach is out of bounds for swimming – again! And look what is now being planned for Picton Harbour – without any environmental review or consideration on the impact to human life. Does it never end?
well……at least some people can sit more quietly and have a nice picnic now…Instead of Tons of tourist cars. recentlly lined up in the parking lot……now they will go back to sandbanks
There was no rain up until Sunday so it’s more likely that the reason the beach was posted was the collection of organic matter at shore than run off or leaching. The break wall on the channel into Lake Ontario is the main culprit, trapping water (and dead fish, rotting seaweed, etc.) and creating a petri dish of bad stuff….
Gary, Wellington has been on central sewage treatment since 1979. No septics involved.
hockeyman -I don’t think you know what you are talking about. I have never complained about 49 and I drive it all the time. It doesn’t matter what road I live on – the fact is I would like to see more effort in improving the water quality of a beach far from where I do live. The problem responsible for creating the contaminated water can be solved, so why isn’t there more effort to do so? With your approach, nothing will ever get solved. All of our beaches are on Lake Ontario – why is Wellington (as one person claims) to be one of the worst? He claims the problem to be septics – which can be made safer for all. hockeyman-you need to wear a helmet!
Wellington Beach is rarely safe for swimming, it’s one of the worst! The shoreline is susceptible to the leaching of septics from all the development.
Also Dennis you seeas though you can solve every problem on here so you probably have no time to drive on 49
Dennis the problem is Lake Ontario.Quite complaining about 49 too.I believe you live on the new stretch of road between Demorestville and 49 so why would you even be concerned.You would have the best road in the county
The County spends a lot of money on a variety of projects and initiatives – but I can’t get why we have water so badly contaminated that our beaches have to be closed and why we don’t spend money on fixing that problem? If we are concerned about pubic health, business and tourism – then having one of our major beach attractions closed because of E-coli contamination is not only dangerous, but down right embarrassing! Instead of playing games with Hwy. 49 – maybe we should be asking all levels of government to help solve our water contamination problem first -isn’t that more important than a road????