Toronto's Scarborough Beaches

No swimming in Scarborough's Rouge Park and Bluffer's Park Beaches

There are no combined sewers along the rivers or lakeshore near these beaches. Still, E.coli levels are consistently above safe swimming limits for nearly 100% of the summer at both Bluffer's Park and Rouge Park Beaches.

Bacteria at Bluffer's Park Beach remains a mystery. Bird droppings may be a factor and/or illegal sanitary and storm sewer connections. Pollution may also be carried from the mouth of Highland Creek and other points along the lakeshore to the beach.

Rouge Park Beach is directly polluted by bacteria present in the Rouge River. While the Rouge River does not contain any combined sewer outfalls along its riverbanks , high E.coli levels have been measured in the water. The source may be cross-connections between sanitary and storm sewers that divert sewage to the rivers and lakeshore.

Other sources of E.coli may include contaminated by stormwater runoff, broken pipes and land-based runoff. Both the river and the creek are susceptible to wet weather flow impacts due to urbanization. A wet weather episode immediately raises the level of E.coli in the beaches. However, levels are also a concern during dry weather periods.

History of Beach Pollution

The Rouge River and Rouge Park Beach exceed PWQS for E.coli over 90% of the time, all year round.

10% of the Rouge River Watershed is based within the City of Toronto. However wet weather flow impacts point to this area being the primary contributor to bacteria in the River. With largely permeable soils and a significant portion of the land-use being residential and open space a lot level natural drainage strategy could be very successful in reducing pollution.