High levels of bacteria at three West Vancouver beaches
Posted July 21, 2014 8:18 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WEST VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There are a few beaches in West Vancouver you might want to avoid until later today.
Vancouver Coastal Health is advising people to stay out of the water at Ambleside, Dundarave, and Sandy Cove beaches because of high E. coli levels.
Dr. John Carsley says recent hot weather could be to blame.
“The standard for swimming water is under 200 and usually, our beaches are under 100. These three beaches were over 200,” he explains.
“I think that the weather hasn’t been quite as hot and we’re just doing some more sampling. Usually, those beaches are fine for swimming, occasionally later in the summer, but we’ve had a lot of hot weather earlier.”
Carsley is hopeful bacteria levels will drop back to normal today.
High levels of bacteria are blamed on fecal contamination from human or animal sources.
Health officials say the waters of False Creek East, off Science World, have a bacteria count of 500, but an advisory has not been posted there because the rocky and steep shoreline is not considered a swimming or bathing beach.
