While there still won’t be lifeguards at Rogers Cove beach in Peterborough’s East City this summer, the water quality at the beach will continue to be tested.
That’s the word from the regional health unit, which has reversed its earlier decision to stop testing this summer after the City of Peterborough eliminated taxpayer-funded lifeguard services at the beach.
“Peterborough Public Health has confirmed that Rogers Cove will continue to be maintained as a public beach by the City of Peterborough; however, it will not be supervised,” the health unit stated in an email to kawarthaNOW. “Sampling of this beach will resume on June 12, 2025.”
In prior years, the City of Peterborough has paid lifeguards to supervise the city’s two public beaches — one at Rogers Cove and the other at Beavermead Park — daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. from the last week of June to the end of August.
However, during its deliberations on the draft 2025 budget, city council decided to eliminate lifeguard services at Rogers Cove to save $40,000. However, the city will continue to provide lifeguard services at the more popular Beavermead Park beach.
Every summer, Peterborough Public Health has tested the water quality of the city’s two public beaches on a daily basis from Monday to Friday. After the city’s decision to eliminate lifeguard services at Rogers Cove, the health unit announced it would only perform weekday testing at Beavermead Park and not Rogers Cove — a decision that has now been reversed.
With the exception of Rogers Cove, the health unit began testing water quality at public beaches in the city and county of Peterborough and Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations on June 2 to ensure the water quality conditions are safe for recreational use during swimming season. The first sample for Rogers Cove will be taken on Thursday (June 12).
The program will continue through to the end of August, with water at the city’s two public beaches samples on weekdays and the water at most public beaches in the county and two First Nations sampled at least once a week, with a few county beaches only sampled once a month. The health unit posts the results on its website.
Results take approximately 24 hours to be analyzed. If levels of bacteria exceed recommended thresholds for recreational water use, the beach will be posted as unsafe and to avoid becoming ill, people should not use the beach for swimming. If a significant risk to human health is identified, such as a toxic spill or the identification of a harmful algae bloom, a beach may be closed to the public.
Stay tuned to kawarthaNOW in June for The Beach Report™, our weekly report of the results of water quality testing at beaches in the greater Kawarthas region, including the city and county of Peterborough, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, Northumberland County, and Hastings County.
