Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, a Swim Drink Fish initiative, inspires and stokes water watchers. It safeguards swimmable, drinkable, fishable water for everyone in Lake Ontario’s watershed through grassroots participation. It encourages people to document observations while spending time on the water. 

Recreational Water Monitoring Hubs in Toronto and Kingston, ON are both hosted by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. The Toronto Monitoring Hub was established in 2016 by Swim Drink Fish. The Toronto Hub currently monitors 8 different locations along the Toronto shoreline. Volunteer citizen scientists work with the hub coordinator to sample in the Toronto Harbour weekly during the swimming season. In 2019 over 500 volunteers helped to sample the waters at four locations along the waterfront. To get involved with the Toronto Monitoring Hub, sign up to volunteer and look for the volunteer posting for Toronto.

The Kingston Monitoring Hub was established in 2020 by Swim Drink Fish. The Lake Ontario Waterkeeper organization has a long history of involvement with water-related projects in Kingston – the first Lake Ontario Waterkeeper boat launched from Kingston in 2001 – and the creation of the Recreational Water Monitoring Hub is an extension of its ties with the Kingston community. 

Currently, two sites are being monitored weekly by the Kingston Hub – Olympic Harbour Beach and Hospital Beach. Water samples from these sites are analyzed at the Hub’s lab, located at the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. Kingston’s Recreational Water Monitoring Hub was established with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Great Lakes Protection Initiative. To get involved with the Kingston Recreational Water Monitoring Hub, sign up to volunteer and look for the volunteer job posting Kingston. 

Both the Toronto Hub and the Kingston Hub are Swim Drink Fish citizen science monitoring hubs that received funding by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Great Lakes Protection Initiative.

Contact

phone: 1 (416) 861-1237

email: TorontoHub@swimdrinkfish.ca or KingstonHub@swimdrinkfish.ca

facebook: facebook.com/LakeOntarioWaterkeeper

twitter: twitter.com/LOWaterkeeper

address: 379 Adelaide Street West (Basement, west side)

Toronto, ON M5V 1S4

As of 2018:
This project was undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada through the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change.
Ce projet a été realisé avec l’appui financier du gouvernement du Canada agissant par l’entremise du ministère fédéral de l’Environnement et du Changement climatique.