Port Colborne and Fort Erie, ON – For the second summer the Lake Erie – Niagara Monitoring Hub is monitoring recreational water quality at three locations in the Niagara Region, on the North Shore of Lake Erie. The Hub tests for E.coli bacteria at each location once per week and the results indicate if the sites pass or fail the standards for recreational water quality. The results are available to the public on the free website and app, Swim Guide.  Monitoring will continue through to the end of September.

The three locations currently monitored are:

• Gravelly Bay – Sugarloaf in Port Colborne
• Waverly Beach – Public Road Allowances in Fort Erie
• Lorraine Bay in Port Colborne

The Lake Erie – Niagara Hub was established in 2019 by Swim Drink Fish with the Niagara Coastal Community Collaborative and is supported by Niagara College, a member of the Collaborative. In 2020 the Hub began working with the Lorraine Bay Association to monitor the waters of Lorraine Bay in Port Colborne. The Hub is run by Swim Drink Fish staff with the support of volunteer citizen scientists. The Hub was established with funding received from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Great Lakes Protection Initiative.

The monitoring season launch was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.