Public Service Announcement

Drain Lake in Upper Sackville Swimming Advisory

(Wednesday, August 27, 2008) - The public is advised that water test samples taken earlier this month at the Drain Lake in Upper Sackville detected fecal coliform bacteria levels exceeding provincial and federal recreational guidelines. This 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 http://www.halifax.ca/recreation/beaches.html.

McCabe Lake, which is the nearest downstream lake, was tested earlier this month, and all stations were within the recreational guidelines at that time.

- 30 -

Community Contact:
Councillor Brad Johns
District 19 - Middle & Upper Sackville
- Lucasville
490-4086

Technical Contact:
Cameron Deacoff
Environmental Performance Officer
HRM Infrastructure & Asset Management
490-1926