Beach Closed for the Weekend — Again
- kc dyer
- Jul 11
- 2 min read
Lions Bay Beach deemed unsafe for swimming, wading
The waters at Lions Bay Beach are once again unsafe for public swimming and wading, according to a special notice released yesterday.
This is the second warning of the season, with concern focused on the average E. coli concentration of the last five water samples taken at Lions Bay Beach Park, stating evidence of "long term contamination".
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Medical Health Officer has posted a Red Advisory HERE, and signage is now in place at the beach. Seasonal sample results for Lions Bay beaches can be found HERE, though these have not been updated on the VCH site since June 29.
Despite the signs, the warm weather has meant visitors have continued to swim and wade in the restricted waters.
Village staff offered a strongly-worded warning in their last release, saying that the public should heed the VCH water advisories, and noting that "E. coli by itself is a pathogen, and some of its strains are dangerous, but because it is easy and fast to culture in the lab, it is used as the indicator for the possible presence of far more serious fecal diseases including cholera, polio, typhoid, hepatitis and enteric."
Lions Bay Infrastructure committee member and water treatment specialist Anthony Greville says that the geometric mean test is more accurate than a spot test, because it "is calculated out over at least five test cycles, and gives a real indication of what is happening over time."
While the geometric mean for Lions Bay Beach was only slightly above the recommended limit, Greville says that count indicates that there is an ongoing concern, and the high result was not simply a “one off” as a result of a poor sample or flawed lab analysis. "There is a real issue at Lions Bay Beach since there has been a consistently high E.coli reading over several test cycles."
The source of the E. coli has not been determined, and could come from any number of factors including animal contamination, sewage release from vessels or the septic tank from the toilets at the beach.
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RE the hi E coli count: It is highly unlikely to have come from sewage release from vessels, given the Dog Beach and Brunswick are unaffected.