Humber Bay Park West

Etobicoke, Ontario

Part of a network of small peninsulas stretching out into Lake Ontario, Humber Bay Park West is a beautiful spot on the city's waterfront. The rocky beach is not monitored for recreational water quality by the city of Toronto. Humber Bay is a very popular scuba diving site, especially with beginners. Trails behind the beach make for a good bicycle route. This side of Humber Park is home to a few boating clubs and docks, which means it has slightly less green space than its Eastern counterpart.

Although a variety of recreational activities takes place in the water here, water quality at Humber Bay Park is currently unmonitored by the City of Toronto. Water quality concerns at this site are tied to its close proximity to the Humber Wastewater Treatment Plant. A small group of citizen scientists is undertaking weekly sampling for E. Coli until the end of August 2017. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper analyzes samples in-house as part of a new pilot project with external samplers.

Information and results of sampling will be posted here until the last week of August 2017. After this period, recreational water users are advised to be cautious as E. coli bacteria can cause health problems in humans and pets.

WATER QUALITY

Met water quality standards less than 60% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on . Lake Ontario Waterkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at

For water quality icon legend, click:

CURRENT WEATHER

3°C

Mostly clear

Report Pollution

MONITORING FREQUENCY

SOURCE INFORMATION

Water quality information is much needed for these sites due to water quality concerns (e.g. may be affected by sewage pollution) and to their popularity among recreational water users. A small team of citizen scientists is conducting water sampling on a weekly, volunteer basis. These external samplers have been trained by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper staff. The water samples are processed and analyzed at Lake Ontario Waterkeeper's in-house lab. Sample collection and analysis are done in adherence to Ontario's Recreational Water Protocol, 2014.

Samples are collected on a weekly basis, every Tuesday evening (Outer Harbour) or Wednesday morning (Humber Bay Park West). Water is sampled for E. coli and Total coliform at all sites. Beaches in Ontario are posted when the geometric mean of 5 samples collected within a given swimming area and within a 30-day period exceeds 100 E.coli / 100 ml of water. A Ministry of the Environment procedure says that a clean beach meets water quality criteria at least 95% of the swimming season, even if it is near a sewage pipe. Test results are expressed as Most Probable Number (MPN) of E.coli cfu (colony forming units) per 100 ml by using the IDEXX Quanti-Tray/2000 MPN Table. A beach is marked Green when geometric mean of 5 samples results are equal or below 100 E.coli / 100 ML water. A beach is marked Red when the geometric mean concentration (minimum of five samples) is equal to or above 100 E.coli / 100 ML water, according to Ontario’s water quality guidelines. A beach is marked Grey when there are no current results or there is no available information. Results are posted as soon as lab results are available. Results will be communicated through the swim guide app. To see a full sample results tables visit the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper website. Results are also available by email at contact@theswimguide.org or by calling The Swim Guide +1 (416) 861-1237.

WATER QUALITY GRAPH