With summer coming to a close, we decided to report on the best and worst beaches in BC. We base our report on coliform levels tested by BC health authorities all summer and reported in our free SWIM GUIDE app, known debris and litter from shoreline cleanups, isolated incidents (sewage/oil leaks or spills), and water sampling done by Fraser Riverkeeper’s Doug Chapman.
Let’s start with the bad news first. Our worst beaches in the lower mainland are easily Trout Lake and False Creek East–both consistently higher in coliform counts than provincial or federal guidelines recommend. Note that False Creek East technically is not considered a swimming beach or primary contact water body, but wading is allowed and immersion/contact with the water is inevitable for boaters and others. Airborne effects from coliforms may also affect people close to but not immersed in the water. Our Riverkeeper’s water sampling also shows toxic levels of PCBs, PAHs, and heavy metals in False Creek East.
False Creek photo credit: Suzanne Rushton
This year, Fraser Riverkeeper is also doing our BC Rivers Day cleanup at False Creek East, due in part to the fact “Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup” described it as being a rocky shoreline with a large amount of medical and personal hygiene items. We all know that litter on a beach may make its way into our marine environment. Cleaning up shorelines helps to prevent further plastic and other debris from entering our oceans and amassing in our oceans.
The annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup collects statistics each year for trash collected in all of its cleanups on BC Rivers Day. Their recent report showed that three Metro-Vancouver parks were in the list of the most trash-infested shorelines. They list BC’s most littered beach as Kanaka Creek Regional Park, where volunteers collected 3,200 kg per kilometers of trash last year. The Kanaka Creek Watershed is also the site of Fraser Riverkeeper’s first Riverwatcher project; we are helping to map the watershed and are working with Riverwatcher Larry McMillan, from Maple Ridge, to find solutions for cleaning up the watershed, which feeds into the Fraser River. The report also listed Tom Hopkins Ravine Park in Surrey and Brownsville Bar Park along the Fraser in Surrey, in the top four worst beaches for litter in Canada.
We would also have to include in our report of “worst beaches” the Pegleg Gravel Bar beach in Chilliwack. For the past four years, Fraser Riverkeeper has cleaned up the bar on Earth Day, and over time we have collected 26 tonnes of scrap metal and other debris left on the bar. Our yearly collection outweighs any beach cleanup reported by the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, but is also due to pre-freshet trash exposed on the bar. We should note that other bars along the river are most likely just as littered, but we do not have data on them.
Another beach worth mentioning is White Rock Beach, which was closed in late July due to a sewage spill. A blocked sewer line on Marine Drive caused sewage to overflow and end up in the nearby swimming area. Crescent Beach was also closed temporarily due to a sewage leak. And finally, Maple Beach in Belcarra has not been cleaned up completely since the Kinder Morgan oil leak in 2007. Fraser Health Authority noted that they found oil there from both the 2007 leak and an earlier leak from the 1960s.
Now on to the good news! Vancouver has some great beaches that are consistently very low in coliforms (less than 30cfu/100 ml water). The most consistently low-count beaches are Whytecliff Park, Dundarave Beach, and Stanley Park’s Third Beach. Iona Beach Park also scored very low each week, but it’s in close proximity to the Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant, where there are potentially toxic discharges into the surrounding water. This facility treats sewage from Vancouver, the University Endowment Lands, and parts of Burnaby and Richmond before discharging it through a 7.5 km, deep-sea outfall into The Strait of Georgia.
Third Beach photo credit: Suzanne Rushton
Most beaches were open all summer, with only a few closed due to high coliform counts, including Elk Lake on Vancouver Island and Okanagan Lake Beach in the interior. These beaches were only posted for a week and later were fine.
Also, we’ve spent part of the summer going directly to beaches in Vancouver to talk with people and promote SWIM GUIDE. Our beach team reported that English Bay and Kitsilano Beach have had more litter than usual, especially during this late season (i.e. warm) August weather we’ve been having, with higher bather-loads than earlier this summer.
We encourage everyone to get to know their clean, swimmable water and enjoy the rest of the summer!
