Frenchman's Bay West Beach

Pickering, Ontario

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Take in breath-taking sights of Lake Ontario at Frenchman’s Bay. This strip of sandy land that separates Frenchman’s Bay from the lake is a “barrier beach”. The strong winds that created the barrier beach also make the spot fantastic for windsurfing and kite boarding. On the north side of the barrier, you will find the east and west bays. This is an environmentally sensitive area managed by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority. The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station dominates the landscape on the east side of the bay. This is one of the largest and oldest nuclear power plants in the world (opened in 1971).

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COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is essential right now. Follow the advice of the health experts. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Heading to the beach should only be considered an option if social distancing practices can be followed. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter the efforts to curb the virus’ spread.

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization public resource on COVID-19.

Water Quality

Passed water quality tests 60-95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 31st, 2020. 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 4th, 2020 at 10:44 AM.

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Durham Region Health Department monitors recreational water quality at sites in this region. The sampling season starts on June 8 and ends on September 11, 2020. Water at all sites is sampled for E. coli and Total coliform at all sites. Water samples are collected weekly on Mondays or Tuesdays. Results are posted to Swim Guide as soon as lab results are available. Durham Region Health Department issues beach advisories when the geometric mean concentration of at least five samples is above 200 E. coli / 100 mL of water or when a single sample is above 400 E. coli / 100 mL of water. This guideline comes from Canada’s Guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality (2012). It is applied to beaches in Ontario in accordance with Ontario’s Recreational Water Protocol, 2018.

In Swim Guide, a beach is marked Green when the geometric mean of at least 5 samples is below 200 E.coli / 100 mL water and each individual sample concentration are below 400 E.coli / 100 mL. A beach is marked Red when the results are equal to or above a geometric mean of 200 E.coli / 100 mL water and/or 400 E.coli / 100mL. A beach is marked Grey when there are no current results or there is no available information. 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! DISCLAIMER: Historical data from 2017 and prior reflect the previous Ontario standard of a geometric mean of 100 E. coli /100 mL. Historical data from 2018 onward reflect the new Ontario Operational Approaches for Recreational Water Guideline, 2018: Geometric mean concentration 200 E. coli/ 100 mL and single-sample maximum concentration of 400 E. coli /100 mL.

Water Quality Graph