Public Service Announcement

Swimming Advisory for Russell Lake in Dartmouth

(Friday, August 8, 2008) - The public is advised that water test samples taken earlier this month at the North inlet, deep station, and outlet to Russell Lake in Dartmouth detected fecal coliform bacteria levels exceeding provincial and federal recreational guidelines. Russell Lake is not an HRM supervised swimming location.

Under these conditions, swimming and other forms of contact recreation should be avoided until further notice.

HRM tests the water quality of a limited number of unsupervised lakes for ecological reasons on a seasonal basis only. For a list of the lakes HRM tests for ecological reasons, please check the HRM website at http://www.halifax.ca/environment/lakesandrivers.html.

Only lakes those lakes with HRM supervised beaches are tested on a weekly basis during the swimming season. For a list of the HRM supervised beaches, please visit the HRM website at ttp://www.halifax.ca/recreation/beaches.html.

The south inlet of Russell Lake was within the guidelines. Adjacent watercourses are scheduled for sampling and analysis within the month.

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Community Contact: Technical Contact:
Councillor Bill Karsten Cameron Deacoff
District 7 - Portland - East Woodlawn Environmental Performance Officer
490-7032 HRM Infrastructure & Asset Management
490-1926

Deborah Story, Manager
Marketing, Design, & Print Services
Corporate Communications
490-6787
storyd@halifax.ca