Public Service Announcement

Russell Lake Water Quality Advisory

(Friday, May 8, 2009) The public is advised that water samples taken on April 13 at the North inlet of Russell Lake detected fecal coliform bacteria levels exceeding provincial and federal recreational guidelines. Samples collected at the in-lake, south inlet and outlet of this lake were below the guidelines.
Russell Lake is not an HRM supervised swimming location.

Under these conditions, all 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. Only lakes with supervised swimming beaches are tested on a weekly basis for recreational reasons during the swimming season. For a list of the lakes HRM tests for ecological reasons, please check the HRM website at http://www.halifax.ca/environment/lakesandrivers.html.

The elevated fecal coliform bacteria levels in the Russell Lake sample may be attributed to the leak in the force main sewer pipe leading from the Russell Lake Pumping Station. On April 30, 2009 Halifax Water repaired a leak at the north east end of the causeway across the north end of Russel Lake. Water quality sampling of Russell Lake will continue this summer and fall under the Russell Lake West Development Agreement. Those samples will help to determine if the repair of this leak makes a difference to the in-lake fecal coliform levels.

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Media Contact:
Shaune MacKinlay
Manager, Public Affairs
490-6531

Technical Contact:
Cameron Deacoff
Environmental Performance Officer
Sustainable Environment Management Office (SEMO)
490-1926