Parlee Beach (91.9 The Bend Photo)
As the swimming season gets underway, the provincial Department of Health has announced changes to the way the water will be tested at Parlee Beach this summer.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell says test results will now be automated and posted directly online on the government website.
The water at Parlee Beach is tested at five locations each day during the summer season.
The other change involves rainfall following two years of data collection.
“Based on all of the rainfall advisory data as well as the bacterial information on those particular days, there is actually not a correlation between the amount of rainfall and the amount of bacteria in the water,” she says.
So for that reason, Dr. Russell explains that no swimming advisories will be triggered by poor test results rather than by rainfall alone.
For example, she says out of 28 advisories following rain events over the past two seasons, bacteria levels only exceeded Canadian guidelines four times.
Of the water samples collected at Parlee Beach last year, Dr. Russell notes that 98 percent met recreational swimming guideline values.
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