5 Toronto beaches deemed unsafe from high E. coli levels

It's shaping up to be another beautiful weekend in Toronto, but city staff have warned Torontonians to stay clear of the water at five of the 11 beaches open to the public.

Centre Island Beach, Ward's Beach, Cherry Beach, Sunnyside Beach and Marie Curtis Park East Beach have all been deemed unsafe to swim by Toronto Public Health.

This comes after Tuesday's heavy rains overwhelmed the city's combined sewage and storm-water system.

As a result, large amounts of condoms, pads, tampon and other garbage were found floating in the city's Inner Harbour.

"In the immediate aftermath of that storm, it was pretty gruesome down there," said Elise Mackie, Toronto community monitoring coordinator for Swim Drink Fish, a group that frequently tests three of the city's piers for E. coli and garbage.

The city also tracks E. coli levels and gives the beaches international Blue Flag awards, which means they meet certain water quality standards that deem them safe for swimming. 

But Toronto Public Health is warning people against swimming during or after storms, floods or heavy rainfall, and that cloudy water could be an indication of high levels of bacteria.

"After a heavy rainfall it is expected that we are going to have storm runoff," said Christine Navarro, associate medical officer for Toronto Public Health.

She said storm runoff usually contains things like human and animal waste and pollution from our streets.

Contact with contaminated water can cause skin infections and eye infections, as well as an upset stomach, Navarro warns, adding it's usually worse for children and the elderly.

People still enjoying beaches, avoiding water

 The city's warnings haven't kept people from enjoying these sandy spots.

At Cherry Beach Friday, people avoided going into the water, but still enjoyed relaxing by the lake.

"It's still a beautiful day," said Steve Voelkel, who came to the beach with his kids. "They're having fun."

He said he encouraged his children to enjoy playing by the water, but not go in.  

"I'm from Walkerton, so I lived through the E. coli crisis up there," Voelkel said. "When I hear E. coli, I just say 'we're going to stay out of the water today.'"

But for beach-goer Mitt Varghese, news of the unsafe water was a bit more of a setback.

"It's a bit disappointing, but what can you do?"

Friday was going to be his first day trying any Toronto beach, but he was warned by a lifeguard to steer clear of the waves.

"After this heat wave, I definitely wanted to go into the water," Varhese said.   

Lake-filling projects aimed at helping drainage issue

Navarro said the city has had a master plan in progress for the last five years to fix the issue of sewage and pollution finding its way into beaches following a heavy storm.

"We continue to find more ways to make the city more resilient," she said.

One of the projects currently underway is the Cherry Street Storm Water and Lake filling project, a construction project creating new land around Essroc Quay and realigning Cherry Street with the end goal of better managing stormwater, avoiding flooding and creating new green space.

While touring the site Friday, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters projects like these are essential to building better communities.

"I live in a place where the whole river was filled with bog, and now 20 years later it has changed completely, but no one would have envisioned that," Champagne said.

He said he understood the issue that happened earlier this week with flooding, and hopes this project will prevent that from happening, at least in Toronto's east end.

"I'm proud to see Toronto paving the way," Champagne said.