NEWS RELEASE
Black Rock and Dingle Beaches Open for Supervised Swimming
(Friday, July 2, 2010) - The beaches at Black Rock and Dingle Park are open for supervised swimming.
The latest test results from samples taken Wednesday, June 30, 2010 indicate levels of 5cfu/100ml at Dingle Beach and 4cfu/100ml at Black Rock Beach, which are well below swimming level guidelines of 200 cfu/100ml for fecal coliforms.
Halifax Water Board Chair Colleen Purcell said, “On behalf of the Halifax Water Board of Commissioners, I would like to thank the Halifax Water team and the HRM Halifax Harbour Solutions Project Office for their dedication, hard work and team effort to bring the Halifax plant back to working order. Their priority and focus has always remained on the environment and the customer. Bringing these two historical swimming spots back to the community is great news for everyone. I hope residents and visitors alike take advantage of these beautiful beaches and parks.”
With the Halifax, Dartmouth and Herring Cove wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF) operational, the improvement in harbour water quality has been dramatic.
“This is the culmination of a project residents have pushed hard for over many years,” stated Mayor Peter Kelly. “Restoring our harbour and these beaches is a legacy we can all be proud to pass onto our children.”
The three Harbour Solutions Project WWTFs are designed to treat four times the average dry weather flow. This means following a heavy rain event, flows entering the treatment facilities may temporarily exceed the WWTF design capacity. When this happens, the excess flows are screened through the combined sewer overflow chambers (CSOs) to remove floatables, and then discharged into the harbour.
The wastewater discharged through the CSOs does not receive full treatment. These overflow conditions can last for minutes or hours depending on the intensity and duration of the rainfall. Once the flow volume is reduced, full treatment is restored. These overflows are common in large municipal wastewater treatment systems and are not a design problem.
Following heavy rain events, swimmers should not swim in the harbour for 3 days. HRM Beach staff will take water samples to verify water quality following overflows and announce when swimming is restored. As we learn more about how the harbour reacts to overflows, the 3 day period could be reduced.
Bring your hat, sun screen, beach towel, and snacks and enjoy all of HRM’s many supervised beaches.
For further information regarding the HRM Beach Program, please contact the Beach Office at 490-5458.
For more information and a complete list of HRM beaches, lakes and outdoor pools, please visit: http://www.halifax.ca/rec/beaches.html.
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Contact:
Mayor Peter Kelly
Halifax Regional Municipality
490-4010
James Campbell
Communications and Public Relations Coordinator
Halifax Water
490-4604
