Just one beach posted as beaches from Pickering to Newcastle good to go for long weekend

Summer must be nearing an end because Durham Region’s Health Department has just released the final beach report of the season.

The good news is just one beach – Beaverton South Beach at Simcoe Street and Harbour Park Crescent in Brock Township – has been posted. The other 13 beaches have been marked safe to swim for the Labour Day long weekend.

Throughout the summer, the Region’s Health Department tests waters at public beaches as part of its beach monitoring program. Tests carried out at all Durham Region beaches include testing water samples for high levels of bacteria to let beach visitors know which beaches are safe for swimming Unless otherwise indicated, results reflect routine, weekly monitoring conducted by Health Department staff.

(Durham Region is no longer testing water samples from Elgin Pond in Uxbridge as there is no swimming beach at the pond.)

Beaverton’s other beach, Beaverton South, passed the testing, as did Thorah Centennial Park Beach just down the Lake Simcoe coast.

Other beaches getting the green light for the week beginning August 28 (with no blue-green algae) were Paradise Beach in Ajax; Bowmanville East, Bowmanville West and Newcastle Beach Central in Clarington; Whitby Beach and Iroquois Beach in Whitby; Lakeview Beach East and Lakeview Beach West in Oshawa; and Frenchman’s Bay East and Frenchman’s Bay West in Pickering.

Kinsmen Beach at Palmer Park on Lake Scugog did pass the testing but the downtown Port Perry beach does have a blue-green algae advisory. People can protect themselves and their pets from the algae blooms by not swimming or playing in areas where water is discoloured or where foam, scum, or mats of algae on the water’s surface are present. Consuming fish from areas where mats of algae are present is also not advised.