AN OPEN LETTER TO THE FREE PRESS, CITIZENS AND COUNCIL OF TINY TOWNSHIP

ARE TINY'S BEACHES SAFE?

From John H. Neil M.A., C.P.H.

As the architect of the volunteer water sampling program of the shoreline surrounding Tiny Township, I am dismayed by the mis-information circulating about the objectives and findings to date and wish to set the record straight.

Water quality is a concern of every resident using our beaches and a topic on the agenda of every beach association. There are 45 miles of shoreline including both private and public beaches. The Simcoe County Health Unit samples 10 specific locations fronting on public beaches which total about 2 miles but there was an evident need to understand what the water quality was over the other 43 miles.

My background is a professional career in water quality studies and last spring in a discussion with Judith Grant, President of FoTTSA, I mentioned that there was no definitive information on the beach water quality for Tiny Township nor an agency able to provide such data. She was aware of member associations' concern and suggested that her organization had the local contacts and the ability to raise funds to implement a volunteer sampling program and a plan was formulated.

Thereafter a series of meetings was arranged with Health Unit staff and a plan was developed whereby their sampling frequency was advanced to weekly rather than biweekly and sample collections were arranged to coincide each Monday morning. Sampling locations were mutually developed. It was agreed that the results of all analyses would to be sent simultaneously each week to the Health Unit and FoTTSA. It was also agreed that at the conclusion of the sampling program, a public report would be prepared with Health Unit assistance, reporting all the results and interpreting the findings. The plan for volunteer samplers included some 83 shoreline sample points and 20 influent streams where local residents expressed an interest in knowing the water quality.

No government laboratory accepts citizens' samples from recreational waters now, so a private accredited laboratory was engaged to perform the required E. coli analysis. The laboratory selected is the one used by the Tiny Township Water Department. The cost of analysis is $7.00 per sample and we made representation on April 30 to Tiny Township Council for the estimated analytical cost of $6000. While they demurred, FoTTSA started a fundraising campaign. A second request was made to Council for matching funds to a maximum of $3000 to which they agreed on June 25, and subsequently cancelled. (The full cost is expected to be between $7,500 and $8,000.)

Before the sampling started, the Health Unit instructed 40 volunteers (samplers and captains) at a training session on the proper techniques for taking samples so that all collections were done according to the Ministry of Health "Beach Management Protocol."

Sampling commenced July 3 and will be completed August 27th, by which time approximately 1750 samples will have been taken, 1000 by volunteers, 500 by Health Unit staff (and another 250 at the beaches in Awenda Park and Camp Marygrove by Park and Camp staff). It will provide the most comprehensive set of data for any shoreline area in Ontario and the basis from which the Medical Officer of Health may gauge the quality of swimming water in the Township. The study was planned as a one time survey of water quality to determine existing conditions and form a data base from which any changes in the future can be measured.

As anticipated, the results of the volunteer sampling program have determined water of good to excellent quality from virtually all open water samples. Of the 20 or so streams sampled, six have shown questionable numbers and this is where controversy has developed. The action taken by two associations in placing signs in 3 of these creeks where children play was well intended and there is no political agenda relating thereto. There may however be a benefit as your paper quotes the Medical Officer of Health as stating children should not be playing in the ponds on the beach created by any stream.

On Monday morning August 27th, 32 public spirited citizens will put on their bathing suits for the last time and wade out to collect 83 Bay and Lake samples. These people are intelligent engineers, lawyers, nurses or their spouses, who are committed to the well-being of the environment they have come to love along the shoreline of Tiny Township. 

When all results are in, interpretation of the data collected will be done by the office of the Medical Officer of Health where responsibility rests for the health and safety of the people of the Township and a public report of findings will be published.