Parlee Beach gets same-day test results of water quality, but public can't see them

A trial water-testingprogramat ParleeBeach is producing same-day results they're just not provided to anyone thinking of a swim.

It's frustrating that swimmers don't have access to same-day data about water quality at Parlee Beach, saidBill Ross,a resident of Shediac and a member of the Red Dot Association of Shediac Bay, which has followed water problems in the area.

"It's important that we have a test result in a timely manner,"he said.

In a phone conversation, Ross said he was aware apilot project involving same-day watertesting was in progress, but unawareof any details, including data collection.

The beach on the Northumberland Strait has had a long and rocky history of water-quality problems, with fecal counts some years that exceeded limits and forced the provincial park to warn swimmers away for days at a time.

So far this year, the beach has posted three No Swimming advisories, two in June, and the most recent on Friday. Ineach case, the advisory wasbased on samples taken for testing the day before.

The test results shared with the public are culture-based and take 24 hours, from sampling to being posted at the beach or online, the Environment Department says.

WATCH | 'I'm hopeful,' says Bill Ross of the Red Dot Association:

Beachgoers aren't getting results of same-day testing at Parlee Beach

3 months ago

Duration 0:57

Parlee Beach is in its second year of testing a new water-quality monitoring system to reduce the time from sample to result from 24 hours to just over three hours. But the public isn't reaping the benefits.

The pilot project that began at Parlee last summer uses a different kind of test, called a qPCR test, which stands for quantitative polymerase chain reaction, said Clarissa Andersen, spokesperson for the Environment Department.

These results can be available in a little over three hours, said Jeremy Duguay, an applications scientistat LuminUltra, a biological diagnostic testing company with headquarters in Fredericton.

TheqPCRmethod works by usingDNA technology,Duguay said.

It "allows you to select an organism based on a unique DNA signature," he said. From this, a lab can toquantify how much of a particular organism is present in a sample.

When asked what the Environment Department's concerns are about making the pilot'sdaily test results available to the public, Andersen directeda reporter to a website where the results of the culture-based tests are posted.

The culture method is used by some beaches across the country, she said.

Andersen said the pilot project willcontinuethissummer, but no decision has been made about whether to use it after that.

For the Red Dot Association, which has been tracking thewater quality issues at Parlee Beach since 2014, the new testing method is an 'essential step."

"So I'm hopeful," Ross said.

Beaches in North America have been struggling with the 24-hour delay in water results"for a long time," saidGregaryFord of the Swim Drink Fish organization, a groupthat helps educate people on the importance of clean water for swimming, drinking and fishing.

If regularly used, the qPCR technology can help officials understand the source of pollution in specific waters, and"do something about it," Ford said.

In a news release earlier this month, the Department of Tourism announced that $4 million would be spent on workatParlee Beach Provincial Park.

The work includesa new storm water collection system, "which will direct runoff to a pumping facility where it will be treated with cartridge filters and undergo UV disinfection."

The announcement from Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace didn't mentionthe new water-testing technology.