Ottawa public health analysts are working to make sure the water at city beaches is suitable before opening them to the public later this month.
Water samples from Britannia, Petrie Island, Westboro and Mooney's Bay are being gathered daily and tested for E. coli, which is also an indicator of other contaminants.
"If we see results for a particular beach where it's over 200 E. coli per 100 millilitres of water tested, we'll issue a no swimming advisory" said Krista Kreling, an Ottawa public health analyst.
It takes roughly 24 hours to turn around the test results, which means beach patrons will have to wait one day before they'll know whether there are any contaminants lurking beneath the water's surface.
High E. coli levels gathered from water samples near Petrie Island closed the beach for 45 days in the summer of 2006 after a valve malfunctioned, spilling 900,000 cubic metres of biological waste into the Ottawa River. Although several municipal staff members knew the reason for the high levels of E. coli at the beach, it took nearly two years for them to tell the public.
While the 2006 sewage spill into the Ottawa River has many people questioning the water's cleanliness, others say they trust the City will ensure the water is kept clean.
"As you can see the current's going pretty fast so two years of current would have washed that all away. I'm pretty confident that that has passed and it's clean now," Nicole Espenant told CTV Ottawa after taking a dip into the water at Petrie Island.
"I think as long as the city takes the precautions to make it safe again then there's really no worries," added Josh Hernandez.
All four of Ottawa's beaches are set to officially open to the public June 21.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua
