Shediac mayor wants province to act on Parlee Beach water quality

After staying silent on much of the public debate on water contamination at Parlee Beach, the mayor of Shediac decided to speak out.

Jacques LeBlanc said he wants the province to take action this fall to fix water quality issues at the beach.

"To make sure we create confidence, people need to see there's definite positive action being taken," he said. "We need to correct this problem … this needs to be remediated this fall."

Last fall, a CBC News investigation revealed water-quality issues at New Brunswick's most popular beach. During many days in the summer of 2016, the water was not safe to swim in — but  confusion over signage led many tourists to believe it was.

• Government departments will meet regularly to address Parlee Beach water quality
• Water monitoring at Parlee Beach failed to meet Canadian guidelines

LeBlanc said the town found out about the problems at the same time as everyone else. 

It's not 2017 we're worried about. I'm worried about 2018, 2019, and 2020.- Jacques LeBlanc, Shediac mayor

He said Parlee Beach generates $4 million in revenue a year in New Brunswick.

While he doesn't want to point fingers, LeBlanc said it's time to depoliticize the issue and take action for the sake of the beach.

"It's not 2017 we're worried about," he said. "I'm worried about 2018, 2019 and 2020. The image. And I want to make sure the brand has not been affected."

The town has to rebuild trust with tourists.

"The province will need to invest, maybe the Town of Shediac also … to make sure we re-establish that confidence."

LeBlanc hopes the beach will eventually receive its Blue Flag certification, which is awarded on a yearly basis to beaches that meet strict criteria for water quality, among other things.

Sewage smell

Meanwhile, residents of nearby Pointe-du-Chêne said they noticed the smell of sewage coming from a creek that flows into the beach.

Bill Ross, who owns a cottage right next to the creek, said the smell can be unbearable at times.

"On a day that it's really bad, it's in the cottage and we can smell it and it's not very appealing to have a smell like that inside your building," he said.

Residents of the area have paid out of their own pockets to have the water tested for fecal matter.

Arthur Melanson, a member of the Red Dot Association, a group pushing for good water quality for the Shediac Bay, said the group was getting tired of waiting for the government to act on the issue.

"We keep hearing more and more people say that the creek doesn't flush as it used to," Melanson said.

He said the group tested the water in the creek in separate locations on Aug. 9. The samples were then sent to a lab in Moncton, which found levels of fecal streptococci bacteria at 1970/100 ml of water, which is "way over the acceptable limit," he said. 

Canadian guidelines dictate a beach should be closed to swimmers if the fecal bacteria levels reach a value above 70/100 ml of water in a single sample, until the next test shows values within acceptable limits.

While the creek is not a beach and not being used for swimming, and Melanson doesn't know what causes the contamination, the group wants the province to resolve the issue.

• 'What's causing the pollution?': Residents skeptical of new water tests
• New water-advisory system at Parlee Beach errs on second day

"Now maybe something's being done with water sampling, but we're not seeing anything," he said. "The only visual that we've seen is that they adopted the Canadian standard for recreational water, which was a good step, and now they are doing the testing every day.

"But on the testing, we are still questioning, why the 48 hour delay before we get the results?"