Halifax harbour water still worries swimmers

Many beachgoers in Halifax were still testing the waters of Halifax harbour on the weekend before taking the plunge, after Friday's announcement that the water is safe again for swimming.

After decades of pumping raw sewage directly into the harbour and the failure of the Halifax sewage treatment plant in 2009, many people are reluctant to swim.

At Dingle Beach in Fleming Park, the Stein family was playing in the harbour water Saturday — sort of.

For now, Tamara Stein said, she will only allow her two-year-old daughter to go into the water up to her ankles.

"No hands or face, just feet for now," she said. "We're not that confident."

But Halifax Regional Municipality officials are confident that the water meets swimming safety standards now that the Dartmouth, Herring Cove and Halifax sewage treatment plants are up and running.

Tests taken last Wednesday showed that fecal contamination was well below dangerous levels.

The tests indicated levels of four colony-forming units per 100 millilitres of water at Black Rock Beach, and five colony-forming units per 100 millilitres of water at Dingle Beach — well below swimming level guidelines of 200cfu/100ml for fecal coliforms.

"The water is beautifully safe to swim in, but mind-numbingly cold," Halifax Water spokesman James Campbell said.

"If we have heavy rains that strains the treatment centre capacity, the beaches will close, we'll do the testing and we'll let the public know."

At Black Rock Beach in Point Pleasant Park, the only people in the water Saturday were four young men from out of town who had no idea raw sewage used to flow directly into the harbour.

Cara Kirkpatrick, who was playing with her 18-month-old daughter at the water's edge, said she's hopeful the sewage treatment plant will hold up and keep the water clean.

But Kirkpatrick is not letting her daughter go in too far, until the city develops a better track record.

"They can't test the water every day; we can't be sure that it's going to be safe at all times," she said.

Jasmine Dixon and Elliot Bridgewater decided to get only their feet wet.

Dixon said she still remembers the last time the mayor announced the all clear in 2008.

"We're a little hesitant. It's a hot day and we wanted to stick our feet in the water, but we were really unsure because we had heard about the sewage treatment plant going off line, and we didn't know if we could trust the water, to be honest," she said.

"But, Elliot ran down and asked the lifeguards if it's OK, and I guess it's OK."

This is the second time in recent years that metro beaches have been opened to swimmers. In August 2008, the mayor took a swim at Dingle Beach in the newly clean harbour waters, thanks to a $333-million sewage treatment project.

But in January 2009, the $55-million Halifax treatment plant was disabled by a power failure that caused catastrophic flooding just weeks after the city took ownership. It resulted in raw sewage again flowing directly into the harbour.

The plant was finally operational again last month after repairs that Kelly said cost about $10 million.