P.E.I. needs water-monitoring protocol, national charity says

A national charity that advocatesfor clean water says P.E.I. could be doing a lot more to ensure safe and swimmable water at provincial beaches.

Swim Drink Fish Canada recently released its first Canada Beach Report, which looked at water quality testing practices across the country.

It found that P.E.I. is one of four provinces withno provincial protocol in place.

• Beach water quality on P.E.I.'s south shore may soon have some monitoring

Report author Gabrielle Parent-Dolinernoted that many people travel to P.E.I. specifically for its 800 kilometres of beaches.

"Just to be able to say, yes, these are clean places to swim with science behind it, that's really important," she said.

"And it's also really important that if there are problems those are addressed and people know so you can sort of move forward in the restoration process."

'A phenomenal decision'

The only weekly water testing at beaches is done by Parks Canadaat four locations in P.E.I. National Park.

Parent-Dolinersaid staff at the charity clapped and cheered in their office when they heard P.E.I. was taking its first steps toward monitoring water quality at provincial beaches along the Island's south shore.

"We thought that was just a phenomenal decision," she said.

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But, she said, for people's health and the health of the ecosystem the province needs a water-monitoring protocol and a system that gets the information to the public.

The water "could be impeccable, it could be highly contaminated with sewage," but without monitoring there is no way to know, she said.

Monitoring means people can protect themselves, and institutions can work to fix places that are found to be contaminated, Parent-Doliner said.

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