Six beaches unsafe this week in Beaverton, Clarington, Oshawa and Whitby

Almost half of Durham Region’s 14 beaches are marked as unsafe for swimming this week after the latest round of testing found elevated bacteria levels.

The Region runs weekly bacteria tests to ensure the waters of Lake Ontario, Lake Scugog and Lake Simcoe have low enough levels to wade in. The summer started strong with all beaches open in the first round. However, some heavy rains across the region led to all beaches closing the following week.

By tthe end of June, only four had stabilized, meaning they were the only beaches available for the Canada Day long weekend. In the next round of testing, ten were found to be safe. Things improved last week with all beaches passing the bacteria test for the second time this year.

However, the tests from July 17 found elevated bacteria in six beaches in Brock Township, Clarington, Oshawa and Whitby were unsafe;

• Beaverton South (Brock)
• Bowmanville East (Clarington)
• Heydenshore Park and Iroquois Beach (Whitby)
• Lakeview Beach East (Oshawa)
• Newcastle Beach Central (Clarington)

The following remain safe for swimming;

• Paradise Beach (Ajax)
• Beaverton North, and Thorah Centennial Park (Brock)
• Bowmanville West (Clarington)
• Frenchman’s Bay East and Frenchman’s Bay West (Pickering)
• Lakeview Beach West (Oshawa)
• Kinsmen Beach (Scugog)

Kinsmen Beach is safe from bacteria, but a blue-green algae warning is in effect. “While the beach is listed as open, people can protect themselves and their pets from blue-green 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,” the Region wrote.