Van Wagner's Beach

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Van Wagner's is a popular swimming area, located on the same beach strip as Confederation Park and Beach Boulevard beaches. Van Wagner's and Confederation Park were created in the 1960s, replacing private cottages and homes. The local women's civic club was credited with proposing the creation of public parks and generating support in the community.

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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 at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on August 18th, 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 August 20th, 2020 at 11:41 AM.

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Current Weather

-1°C

Clear and sunny

View this beach on Great Lakes Guide

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Hamilton Public Health Services monitors recreational water quality at sites in this region. The sampling season starts June 1 and ends August 31. Water samples are collected weekly. Water at all sites is sampled for E. coli and Total coliform at all sites. Hamilton Public Health Services issues beach advisories when the geometric mean concentration of at least five samples is at least 200 E. coli / 100 mL of water or when a single sample is at least 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. Prior to 2018 beaches in Ontario were posted when the geometric mean of 5 samples collected within a 30-day period exceeded 100 E. coli / 100 mL of water.

Results are posted to Swim Guide as soon as lab results are available. They are also available at https://www.hamilton.ca/parks-recreation/parks-trails-and-beaches/beach-water-quality-in-hamilton.

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 is below 400 E.coli / 100mL.

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 / 100 mL.

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