Every Friday during swimming season, we post The Beach Report™ — our weekly report of the results of water quality testing at beaches in the greater Kawarthas region — and update it throughout the week as conditions change.

As of Wednesday, July 13, the following beaches have been posted as unsafe for swimming:

• Buckhorn Beach, Trent Lakes (Peterborough County)
• Sandy Beach, Trent Lakes (Peterborough County)
• Squirrel Creek Conservation Area, South Monaghan (Peterborough County)
• Riverview Beach Park, Bobcaygeon (City of Kawartha Lakes)
• Rotary Head Lake Beach, Dysart et al (Haliburton County)

Below are the complete results of water quality testing at beaches in the City and County of Peterborough, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, Northumberland County, and Hastings County and Prince Edward County.

In the City of Peterborough, Peterborough Public Health Inspectors sample the beaches at Rogers Cove and Beavermead every business day, and public beaches in the County of Peterborough are sampled at least once a week (except for Chandos Beach, Quarry Bay Beach, and White’s Beach which are sampled at least once in June, July, and August).

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit provides weekly testing results for beaches in the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, and Northumberland County. Testing is based on the most recent test results from the provincial lab in Peterborough for water samples taken from these beaches.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health provides weekly testing results for beaches in Hastings County and Prince Edward County.

Important note

The following test results may not reflect current water quality conditions. Water samples can take one to three days to process and heavy rainfall, high winds or wave activity, large numbers of waterfowl near a beach, or large numbers of swimmers can rapidly change water quality.

You should always check current conditions before deciding to use a beach. You should also monitor other factors that might suggest a beach is unsafe to use, such as floating debris, oil, discoloured water, bad odours, and excessive weed growth.

While we strive to update this story with the current conditions, you should confirm the most recent test results by visiting the local health unit websites at Peterborough Public Health, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit. and Hastings Prince Edward Public Health. As noted above, the beaches at Rogers Cove and Beavermead are tested every business day so the results listed below may not be current.

Peterborough City/County

City of Peterborough Beaches (sampled each business day)

Roger’s Cove (131 Maria Street, Peterborough) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Beavermead Park (2011 Ashburnham Drive, Peterborough) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Peterborough County Beaches (sampled weekly)

Back Dam Park (902 Rock Road, Warsaw, Township of Douro – Dummer) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Buckhorn Beach (12 John Street, Buckhorn, Municipality of Trent Lakes) – sample date 12 July UNSAFE

Crowe’s Line Beach (240 Crowe’s Line Road, Trent Lakes) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Lance Wood Park, Curve Lake (150 Whetung Street E, Curve Lake) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Henry’s Gumming, Curve Lake (150 Chemong Street S, Curve Lake) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Douro North Park (205 Douro Second Line, Township of Douro – Dummer) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Ennismore Waterfront Park (1053 Ennis Road, Ennismore) – sample date 6 July – SAFE

Hiawatha Beach (1 Lakeshore Road, Hiawatha) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Jones Beach (908 Jones Beach Road, Bridgenorth) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Lakefield Park (100 Hague Boulevard, Lakefield) – sample date 6 July – SAFE

Norwood Beach at Mill Pond (12 Belmont Street, Norwood) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Sandy Beach (1239 Lakehurst Road, Municipality of Trent Lakes) – sample date 12 July – UNSAFE

Selwyn Beach Conservation Area (2251 Birch Island Road, Selwyn) – sample date 6 July – SAFE

Squirrel Creek Conservation Area (2445 Wallace Point Road, South Monaghan) – sample date 12 July – UNSAFE

Warsaw Caves Conservation Area (289 Caves Road, Warsaw, Township of Douro – Dummer) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Peterborough County Beaches (sampled monthly)

Belmont Lake (376 Miles of Memories Road, Belmont) – sample date 12 July – SAFE

Chandos Beach (2800 County Road/Highway 620, North Kawartha) – sample date 7 July – SAFE

Kasshabog Lake (431 Peninsula Road, Havelock) – sample date 7 July – SAFE

Quarry Bay (1986 Northey’s Bay Road, Woodview) – sample date 8 July – SAFE

White’s Beach (26 Clearview Drive, Trent Lakes) – sample date 4 July – SAFE

City of Kawartha Lakes

Beach Park – Bobcaygeon – results not available

Birch Point – Fenelon Falls – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Blanchards Road Beach – Bexley – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Bond Street – Fenelon Falls – sample date July 4th – SAFE

Burnt River Beach – Somerville – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Centennial Park West – Eldon – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Centennial Beach – Verulam – sample date July 4th – SAFE

Centennial Verulam Parkette – sample date July 4th – SAFE

Four Mile Lake Beach – Somerville – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Head Lake Beach – Laxton – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Norland Bathing Area – Laxton – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Omemee Beach – Emily/ Omemee – sample date July 5th – SAFE

Riverview Beach Park – Bobcaygeon – sample date July 4th – UNSAFE

Sturgeon Point Beach – Fenelon Falls – sample date June 28 – SAFE

Valentia/ Sandbar Beach – Valentia – sample date July 4th – SAFE

Verulam Recreational Park – Verulam – sample date July 4th – SAFE

Haliburton County

Bissett Beach – Minden Hills – sample date June 28 – SAFE

Dorset Parkette – Algonquin Highlands – sample date June 28 – SAFE

Eagle Lake Beach – Dysart et al – sample date June 27 – SAFE

Elvin Johnson Park – Algonquin Highlands – sample date June 28 – SAFE

Forsters Beach – Minden Hills – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Glamour Lake Beach – Highlands East – sample date July 5 – SAFE

Gooderham Lake Beach – Highlands East – sample date July 5 – SAFE

Haliburton Lake Beach – Dysart et al – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Horseshoe Beach – Minden Hills – sample date June 28 – SAFE

Paudash Lake Beach – Highlands East – sample date July 5 – SAFE

Pine Lake Beach – Dysart et al – sample date June 27 – SAFE

Rotary Head Lake Beach – Dysart et al – sample date July 5 – UNSAFE

Rotary Park Lagoon – Minden Hills – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Rotary Park Main – Minden Hills – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Sandy Cove Beach – Dysart et al – sample date June 27 – SAFE

Sandy Point Beach – Dysart et al – sample date June 27 – SAFE

Slipper Beach – Dysart et al – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Twelve Mile Lake Beach – Minden Hills – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Wilbermere Lake Beach – Highlands East – sample date July 5 – SAFE

Northumberland County

Caldwell Street Beach – Port Hope – sample date June 27 – SAFE

Crowe Bridge Park – Trent Hills – sample date July 8 – SAFE

Harwood Waterfront & Dock – Hamilton Township – results not available

Hastings Waterfront North – Trent Hills – sample date July 8 – SAFE

Hastings Waterfront South – Trent Hills – sample date July 8 – SAFE

Little Lake – Cramahe – sample date July 8 – SAFE

East Beach – Port Hope – sample date June 27 – SAFE

West Beach – Port Hope – sample date July 8 – SAFE

Sandy Bay Beach – Alnwick-Haldimand – sample date July 8 – SAFE

Victoria Park – Cobourg – sample date July 8 – SAFE

Wicklow Beach – Alnwick-Haldimand – sample date July 4 – SAFE

Hastings County and Prince Edward County

Booster Park Beach – Crowe Lake – SAFE

Centennial Park, Deseronto – Bay of Quinte – SAFE

Centennial Park, Northport – Bay of Quinte – SAFE

Diamond Lake Beach – Diamond Lake – SAFE

Echo Beach – Papineau Lake – SAFE

Fosters Lake Beach – Fosters Lake – SAFE

Frankford Park – Trent River – SAFE

Hinterland Beach – Kaminiskeg Lake – SAFE

Kingsford Conservation Area – Salmon River – SAFE

L’Amable Lake Dam – L’Amable Lake – SAFE

Legion Park, Marmora – Crowe River – SAFE

Moira Lake Park – Moira Lake – SAFE

Riverside Park – York River – SAFE

Roblin Lake Park – Roblin Lake – SAFE

Steenburgh Lake – SAFE

Tweed Park – Stoco Lake – SAFE

Wellington Beach – Wellington Bay – SAFE

Wollaston Lake Beach – Wollaston Lake – SAFE

With increasing concerns about the environmental, health, and economic costs of bottled water, GreenUP’s BlueWptbo program reduces the demand for bottled water and provides easy access to drinking water in the greater Peterborough area.

In Canada, sales of bottled water are predicted to reach almost $5.8 billion in 2022. The environmental costs are much higher.

It is estimated that only 14 per cent of water bottles in Ontario are recycled, leaving the other 86 per cent in landfills, rivers, and lakes. Despite only being used for an hour or so, these bottles can take nearly 500 years to break down. When they break down, the microplastics are released into soil and water and get distributed through entire ecosystems.

Microplastics have been found in the digestive tracts of many animals. Humans consume up to five grams of microplastics per week — the equivalent of eating a plastic credit card.

Microplastics contain chemicals which can lead to adverse health effects in animals that consume them, including cancer and reproductive disorders. Pathogens and bacteria that can lead to the spread of disease have also been found on the surface of microplastics, posing another risk for the health of humans and other animals.

BlueWptbo is a community resource that reduces our dependence on single-use plastic water bottles. BlueWptbo connects residents of the greater Peterborough area to clean, free, public sources of municipal tap water.

Users of BlueWptbo have access to a map that easily locates taps to fill their reusable water bottles. With over 80 participating tap locations in the greater Peterborough area, BlueWptbo aims to make drinking water accessible throughout the region.

Want to win a BlueWptbo water bottle? Post a photo of your reusable bottle at a participating BlueWptbo location on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Tag @ptbogreenup and use #BlueWptbo to be entered to win our monthly draw.

“Personally, I’m kind of obsessed with not using plastic, and think plastic water bottles are the bane of a restaurant’s existence,” says Yannick Thiriar, co-owner of The Night Kitchen in Peterborough. “We don’t sell plastic water bottles here.”

The federal government’s plan to prohibit the sale of single-use plastics by the end of 2023 does not include water bottles. Canadian legislators claim they will transition away from a fossil-fuel-based economy towards renewable energy, and yet retain plastic water bottles. Things like plastic water bottles are reliant on fossil fuels for their raw material. You can fill about a quarter of a plastic water bottle with the oil used to manufacture that bottle.

“It’s important to educate the public that tap water is free and safe to drink,” continues Thiriar from The Night Kitchen. “And we also want to support people who come by bike or on foot to come in and get some water.”

Many reusable water bottles weigh less than a smartphone and provide the least expensive way to get fresh water on the go. Bottled water can cost $2.50 or more per 500ml, whereas Peterborough Utilities’ tap water costs tenths of a cent per litre. Why buy water at a 2,400 per cent markup in a wasteful single-use bottle when you can enjoy clean, fresh water from the tap in your reusable bottle? Throwing a reusable bottle in your bag before leaving the house and using BlueWptbo to locate taps near you is the most cost-effective way to hydrate yourself on the go.

Bottled water impacts extend into other areas of social justice too, by contributing to inequalities in areas impacted by water scarcity. There are currently 34 long-term drinking water advisories on public systems, 29 of them on Indigenous reserves. In 2018, Nestlé was found to have extracted millions of litres of water from Canadian Indigenous communities that do not have access to clean drinking water.

In the Six Nations reserve 90 minutes outside of Toronto, Nestlé offers no compensation to the Six Nations for the water the corporation extracts, yet Nestlé pays the province of Ontario $503.71 per million litres. Consumers have an important role to play in stopping these large corporations from harming our environment and communities. By refusing bottled water and bringing your own bottle, you reduce the demand for bottled water.

A common misconception is that bottled water is healthier and safer than tap water. Peterborough Utilities meets or exceeds the government’s requirements for water testing.

“Since 1914 Peterborough Utilities has been providing safe, reliable, and consistently high-quality water from source to tap,” says David Whitehouse, vice-president of customer and corporate services and conservation at Peterborough Utilities Group.

“When you find yourself away from your home tap, BlueWptbo can help you access tap water from other places around the city, maintaining a constant flow of refreshing and cold tap water, even when your water bottle is empty.”

Peterborough Utilities conducts over 20,000 water tests annually to ensure the drinking water they distribute is of the highest quality. Bottled water companies do not have to follow the same stringent requirements.

A recent study done by Brunel University found that bottles made with recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) leak higher concentrations of chemicals into their contents than those with new PET. Chemical contaminants from PET include bisphenol A, an endocrine disruptor that can cause cancer, reproductive disorders and cardiovascular disorder.

With companies like Nestle using 12 per cent recycled PET in their bottles and committing to increase recycled PET to 50 per cent by 2025, this becomes a health concern.

When considering a reusable water bottle, your first choice should be the one you already have. Consuming more also increases your carbon footprint so if you have a water bottle in the back of your cupboard, dig it out and put it to use!

If you don’t have a bottle or your bottle is not ideal for your lifestyle, consider the environment and shop sustainably. The life cycle of a reusable water bottle is important to consider. Where was it made, and with what materials? Stainless steel and glass water bottles are longer-lasting options that can also be recycled when they can no longer be used.

For more information about the BlueWptbo program, visit BlueWptbo.ca or contact program coordinator Natalie Stephenson at natalie.stephenson@greenup.on.ca or 705-745-3238 ext. 223.

BlueWptbo was launched in 2016 in conjunction with Peterborough Utilities Group. Powered by BlueW.org’s mapping system, BlueWptbo establishments join the over 27,000 tap locations participating around the globe.