Port Burwell Provincial Park

Port Burwell, Ontario

Within Port Burwell Provincial Park visitors can enjoy the warm, shallow water of the park's sandy beach. A buoyed swimming area and change facilities are available. After taking a swim in the warm weather, visitors can also enjoy recreational activities on the beach including a 9 hole frisbee golf course. The park is located along the shores of Lake Erie a short drive south of the town of Tillsonburg.

No lifeguards, water safety is your responsibility. Life Jacket Lending Program available.

Get directions to this beach

COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is still essential. Only go to the beach if you are able to keep 6 feet or 2 meters away from others. Follow the instructions provided by your local health authorities. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter our efforts to curb the virus’s spread.

Water Quality

Passed water quality tests at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 30th, 2022. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on September 2nd, 2022 at 1:31 PM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

4°C

Cloudy with a few clear breaks

View this beach on Great Lakes Guide

Report Pollution

Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Ontario Parks samples beaches weekly from June to the end of August (weather permitting). However, some Parks do not begin sampling until mid-June due to factors such as water temperature. Ontario Parks beaches are monitored according to the province's Beach Management Protocol. The Protocol says that authorities must check water quality at least weekly from June 1 to Labour Day at beaches where there are formal swimming programs or lifeguards.

Beaches are typically tested early in the week, on Monday or Tuesday. Samples are processed at provincial labs, processing times vary from park to park, depending on location. Beach postings may occur anytime during the bathing season. As part of the routine monitoring program of public beaches, beach postings may be required where exceedance of recreational water quality levels and other environmental data supports the need for posting. Beaches are posted when the geometric mean of the samples collected exceeds 200 E. coli / 100 ml or if a single sample exceeds 400 E. coli / 100 ml. If the recreational water quality at a swim site meets this standard it is given a GREEN current status in Swim Guide. If the recreational water quality at a swim site exceeds this standard it is given a RED current status in Swim Guide. When water quality exceeds the recreational water quality standards, Ontario Parks posts alerts on their website. Beaches are also physically posted with a sign. Ontario Parks re-samples water that has exceeded the standard as soon as possible. Swim Drink Fish enters water quality test results into Swim Guide according to the actual date the sample was taken. Each Ontario Park typically samples its beaches on the same day every week (or month). Ontario Parks has provided us with the sample collection schedule (Mon-Sun) for Ontario Parks' beaches they monitor. The water quality data for Ontario Parks is entered according to their sample collection schedule. The Ministry of the Environment F-5-5 Procedure says that a clean beach is open at least 95% of the swimming season, even if it is near a sewage pipe or combined sewer outfall. This rule applies to every place that is public, accessible, and feels like a good place to swim. When all else fails, the Ontario Environmental Protection Act strongly states that no one can interfere with the use that you can make of a public waterway - like swimming!

Water Quality Graph