Hamiltonians hoping to enjoy a cool dip in the city’s beach waters will have ready access to them this Canada Day weekend.

Only Pier 4 and Bayfront Park harbours are closed, as the rest of the public beaches are listed as safe for swimming as the temperature heats up.

These include: Binbrook Conservation Beach, Christie Conservation Beach, Valens Conservation Beach, Beach Boulevard, Confederation Park Beach and Van Wagner’s Beach.

In the Halton region, Bronte Park Beach, Coronation Park West and Prospect Park Old Beach are closed to swimmers.

Public health tests for E. coli levels at Hamilton Harbour beaches and beaches between the canal and the east end of Confederation Park four days a week, said safe water program manager Eric Mathews.

The city also regularly monitors water quality in Hamilton conservation areas.

Bathing water is considered unsafe if more than an average of 100 E. coli bacteria per 100 mL of water is found in the latest samples.

“Beach water quality along Lake Ontario has been excellent,” Mathews said.

“The water was safe for swimming 80 to 85 per cent of (the bathing season last year).”

A McMaster Institute for Environment and Health study based on 2009 data found harbour beaches were more likely to have high E. coli counts.

However, a bird exclusion project to limit feces contamination has improved the water quality at Pier 4 over the last five years, Mathews said.

In August 2005, the city installed a buoy line to deter Canadian geese from swimming into the beach area, a fence around the perimeter to keep geese from walking into the area and implemented raking of the sand to remove fecal matter.

For the first time, Pier 4 was safe about 80 per cent of the bathing season last year, up from its historic tendency to be closed for 30 per cent of the season.

They hope to implement bird exclusion measures at Bayfront as well by 2011, Mathews said.

The Hamilton Conservation Authority has recently started trapping and relocating Canada geese at Valens Conservation Beach.

They relocated about 70 in the first two weeks of June, authority spokesperson Bruce Mackenzie said, adding they are also manipulating grass cutting to deter geese at Fifty Point Conservation area and Confederation Park.

Mathews is the lead on a modelling project that aims to find water-quality predictors and improve the city’s beach management program. The hope is to update locals on water quality more frequently.

Currently, it takes 24 hours or more after samples are taken to update the public on www.hamilton.ca/beaches.

via TheSpec.com – Local – Things going swimmingly at city beaches this summer.