N.B. considers reporting water quality at more provincial beaches

CBC News has learned the Department of Health is considering testing and reporting water quality at more provincial park beaches.

Currently, there is no way for New Brunswickers to know if the water is safe for swimming at beaches other than Parlee and Murray.

At every other beach and lake in the province, either the water is not tested for fecal bacteria, or it is tested but the results are not shared with the public.

At Mactaquac Beach for instance, visitors were told not to go in the water last weekend because of high levels of E. coli, but there was no way for people to know until they actually made the drive out there.

For Parlee and Murray beaches, the government started making water-quality results public this year.

The change followed months of controversy over failure to inform beach goers on days when fecal bacteria levels were high enough that children and elderly people should not have gone into the water because of the risk of illness.

• Water monitoring at Parlee Beach failed to meet Canadian guidelines

• Province didn't follow own rules for water quality at Parlee Beach

Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick's acting chief medical officer of health, said her department is committed to looking at all provincial parks that have designated swimming areas this summer.

"We will have some discussions and make decisions about what to do with the beaches moving forward," Russell said.

''So for instance, whether they should be tested, how often they should be tested, etc. compared to what is currently happening at each of the beaches."

Russell would not commit to a timeline or say whether changes would come next summer.

The beaches being looked at are:

• New River Beach Provincial Park.
• Anchorage Provincial Park Beach.
• Herring Cove Provincial Park Beach.
• Mactaquac Provincial Park Beach.
• Mount Carleton Provincial Park.
• Miscou Beach.
• Oak Bay.
• Val Comeau.
• Long Beach.

Need to report all over N.B.

Lois Corbett, executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said that although New Brunswick made improvements this year to recreational water quality monitoring, work still needs to be done to inform the public.

"We do need to report some of the water quality test results that we collect all over New Brunswick much more often, and in a much more transparent way," Corbett said.

"How do we protect people with the data that officials have if we don't tell them?"

Aside from Parlee and Murray beaches, the province tests the water now and then at about 50 popular beaches and lakes — places like Mactaquac Beach or Grand Lake near Fredericton. It will issue no swimming advisories if necessary but does not routinely make testing results available.

"We should be able to click on a site and check the history of recreational water quality in my favourite lake for example, or my favourite Northumberland Strait Beach," said Corbett.

The testing is also done less often — these beaches were sampled about three to four times last summer.