Just four of Niagara’s 19 beaches deemed unsafe for swimming

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Published July 21, 2023 at 10:28 am

While Lakeside Beach in St. Catharines has been declared unsafe to swim due to algae this weekend, as you can see, that wasn't the case in 1943. On a side-note, whatever happened to that huge slide? (Photo: St. Catharines Museum)

The unusually cooler summer has had a positive effect on Niagara area beaches as just four of the region’s 19 shoreline sandboxes have been tested and deemed unsafe for swimming this weekend.

Lakeside Beach in St. Catharines and Waverly Beach in Fort Erie both have unsafe algae levels while Nickel Beach in Port Colborne and Long Beach in Wainfleet tested too high for ecoli.

At its peak this summer, seven beaches were unsafe for swimming a few weekends back.

Getting the green light for splashing this weekend is Crescent Beach in Fort Erie, Nelles Beach in Grimsby, Reebs Beach in Wainfleet, Bay Beach, and Bernard Avenue Beach, both in Fort Erie, Casablanca Beach, and Fifty Point Conservation Beach, both in Grimsby, Charles Daley Park Beach in Lincoln, Queen’s Royal Beach in Niagara-on-the-Lake, as well as Wainfleet Lake Erie Public Access Beach.

One of St. Catharines’ beaches – Sunset Beach – was retested by Niagara today and declared open for swimming.

Port Colborne with the most sandy spots in the region – five beaches in total – were all tested either yesterday or today and four are still safe. The swimming holes in Port Colborne are Centennial Cedar Bay Beach, Sherkston Elco Beach, Sherkston Quarry Beach, and Sherkston Wyldewood Beach.

The warmest beach water temperature was 25.5C at both Sherkston Quarry Beach and Fifty Point Conservation Beach while the coldest was 19.1C at Nelles Beach.

 

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