Swimming near Ottawa: Water safety warnings in place for 6 beaches

The Leeds, Grenville, and Lanark District Health Unit is advising people to stay out of the water at six area beaches due to high levels of bacteria.

The health unit says it has found elevated levels of E.coli at the Almonte beach, Riverside beach and Centennial beach in Carleton Place, Merrickville beach, Bellamy Park beach in Kitley, and Dalhousie Lake in Lanark Highlands.

"Our biggest culprits tend to be geese and runoff from heavy rains," said Kim McCann, manager of community health protection with the health unit.

"So, soils that contain geese feces or even dog feces washing into our beaches can cause elevated levels of bacteria. And we've had some pretty heavy rains over the last few weeks."

The beaches at the above locations are not closed, but it is recommended people do not swim in the water, as the high levels of bacteria can be harmful.

"If you were to ingest the water, it definitely could cause some upset tummies and maybe some diarrhea. It could also cause ear, nose and eye infections as well," McCann said.

McCann says the health unit can only test the local waterways once per week due to the time testing takes.

She says the time it takes for beaches to clear up and become safe for swimming is not exact, and depends on factors such as rain, wind and the movement of the water.

"(People) could always go to one of their local municipal pools, that is treated water that's inspected and it's also tested by the operator multiple times per day."

Lifeguards in Carleton Place tell CTV News Ottawa the warnings have been in place for most of the summer.

Those attending the impacted beaches say the water conditions are halting their summer plans.

"I wanted to kind of cool off and dip into the water, but, I guess not, and I'm just sitting here sweating now," said Carleton Place resident Trinity Adams.

"I asked the lifeguard, is it safe to swim? And I guess it's just at your own risk. Obviously they advise not to drink the water, but I think I'm just going to avoid it for now."

Kayaker Wes Rodney says he brought his boat from Ottawa to Almonte Saturday to paddle the Mississippi River, despite being aware of the warnings in place.

"Especially if you're paddling for a long time, you're going to get hot and you want to go for a swim. I guess we took the attitude that the E.coli counts are really high because of geese, and you can see the evidence," Rodney said, pointing to the large amount of goose poop on the beach.

"We kind of debated not coming, but we're in kayaks, so our feet are maybe in water for a couple of minutes."