Heading to the beach? Check e.coli levels first

Ottawa Public Health was cautioning swimmers against taking a dip at Westboro Beach on Tuesday after water samples taken a day earlier showed high E. coli counts.

E. coli levels at the beach were reported at 238 per 200 millilitres of water, above the provincial standard of 200.

OPH noted that testing results take 18 hours to process in a lab.

“For this reason, swim advisories are issued based on water sample results from the previous day, as well as our knowledge of water quality at each beach in previous years and how they react to factors such as rainfall and bird activity.”

Latest water quality results can be found at ottawapublichealth. ca under the Public Health Topics label.

The other city beaches reported relatively low E. coli levels: Mooney’s Bay (15); Petrie Island East Bay (16) and Petrie Island River beaches (32).