Is harbour beach swimming history due to pollution?
Cleanup efforts at Bayfront beach have failed, and this may be Tugboat Park’s last season
HAMILTON IS NOW in danger of losing both of its harbour beaches to stubborn bacterial pollution and toxic algae that the city just can’t seem to beat.
The city’s largest harbour beach, at Bayfront Park, has been closed for health reasons since 2016 because of continuously high bacteria levels and potentially toxic algae.
A report heading to the board of health Monday says a variety of experimental efforts to make the beach safe for swimmers have failed — including the use of ultrasonic waves to kill algae and hydrogen peroxide to treat polluted sand.
“All the potential solutions that we have tried so far have not worked,” said medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson ahead of next week’s meeting. “In our eyes, it is not going to be a swimming beach ... for the foreseeable future.”
“All the potential solutions that we have tried so far have not worked. In our eyes, it is not going to be a swimming beach ...” DR. ELIZABETH RICHARDSON Medical officer of health, City of Hamilton
The report suggests looking at converting Bayfront beach into a wetland, or using the waterfront space for recreational uses that don’t involve swimming.
A smaller Pier 4 beach, perhaps better known as Tugboat Park, will be open and monitored this summer.
But the report ominously warns health officials will likely recommend closing that beach, too, if monitoring this summer doesn’t show “significant improvement” in water quality.
Last year, tests showed the water was only safe for swimming about 30 per cent of the time.
On the upside, Hamilton’s three Lake Ontario beaches were nearly always clean and safe for swimming based on last year’s bacteria test results.
But the grim Bayfront update is a blow to a city that is revamping its harbour waterfront recreation opportunities in advance of a hoped-for influx of thousands of residents to a planned new Pier 8 housing development.
There are other potential fixes for Bayfront beach — but they wouldn’t come cheap. The beach was constructed decades ago within an artificial bay created by two rocky arms curling into the harbour. That rocky embrace likely traps bacteria and other pollutants near the beach that might otherwise be diluted by harbour currents.
A consultant has suggested the city could “cut off” — or reorient — one of those arms to improve water circulation, said harbourfront development manager Gavin Norman. But that would cost up to $5 million.
“We know there is interest in having a beach at Bayfront. But is there $5 million worth of interest?” he asked.
Chris McLaughlin, who heads the Bay Area Restoration Council, said he views Bayfront beach as a “grand experiment,” rather than a failure of the ongoing mission to clean up Hamilton Harbour. He hopes the city will focus on keeping Pier 4 beach open to the public — or explore alternative swimming options elsewhere in the harbour.
“For many people, the Holy Grail of (harbour) restoration is people safely being in the water,” he said. “I think it is too early to give up on having a beach in the harbour.”
Last year was a particularly bad year for harbour swimming, thanks to a combination of high water levels — which effectively drowned both Lake Ontario and harbour beaches — as well as the early appearance of blue-green algae. The cyanobacteria is potentially toxic and usually results in immediate beach closures. It tends to show up in Hamilton Harbour late in the summer, but arrived in early July in 2017.