In the Summer when I was a kid, I spent virtually every waking hour in the waters of Lake Huron. Nowadays there is permanent warnings at all my old “watering holes” that I frequented as a child. High e coli and bacteria levels. Rained in the past few days? It’s your funeral, is what the sign basically reads. I do shudder when I see tourists ignoring the signs, especially when little kid “a” is throwing sediment from the rain at little kid “b’s” face.
I do allow my kids to swim in the lake when there hasn’t been a rain for a few days. I remind the kids not to swallow the water, and we try to be as safe as possible. Recently I was watching a news story that mentioned that the highest bacteria levels are in the wet sand and just off shore where little ones tend to play more.
Do you still swim in your local lake or body of water, or do you keep it to the pool? Is it worth the risk?
For your local swimming water quality testing results inquire with your local Health Unit. They will direct you to the appropriate website.
I am lucky enough to live near the worlds largest fresh water beach, which is certified by Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) which means it meets thier standards for high environmental and quality. 🙂 We go once a week, at least and love it!
My kids and I do still swim in lakes. I also let them play in steams at local picnic parks. Of course if there is alge or anything funky looking we don’t go in the water. Maybe it is because we live in a small area but I have never seen signs like the one on your post. Although I can just imagine what is found in the lakes and streams of bigger places.
I used to ignore the signs when I was young, but then I started getting horrible rashes in my underarms & between my legs (anywhere my skin would rub together)
I haven’t since, although I thought it was a local thing. I’m sad that it seems to be widespread D:
Nope and haven’t for years. I live only about 15 minutes away from Wasaga Beach and have not swam there since 1985. Even pool water grosses me out, chlorination and all.
I’ve always lived around lakes and never once had a sign posted anywhere until I had children myself. I’m assuming that this is a “danger” that people survived for centuries?
Lori, unless you say that the pollution we’re dealing with in this day & age has been around for centuries, then no, this is a relatively new danger. Factories dump crap into the air & the water, & we have more factories & man-made pollutants now than centuries ago.
I only swim in my salt water pool. The difference of color between my pool and the neighbors chlorinated pool is disgusting.
DH wants to go swimming in a lake.. and this is exactly why i dont want to. lol
@Lori love your comment and totally and think we tend to over react to most “danger” anyway
I always thought it was funny that we will eat the things that live in the water but don’t want to go near the water itself…isn’t that odd?
Not really lori, there is way more pollution and run off in our water then centuries ago. Unfortunately ecoli danger is real. I only live a hop skip and jump from Walkerton that had people die due to contaminated water. Ecoli is very real, and until we clean up our waters it will continue to get worse.
Moonieya, most of the fish are caught and live well off shore where there are less pollutants. A lot of the worst bacterias are near shoreline on our lakes. 🙂
I’ve never seen a sign like this before either. Living in Northern Ontario we are very fortunate to have many, many clean and gorgeous lakes within a 5-10 minute drive from your doorstep. This must be a “southern” problem – or rather a big city problem. That’s horrible though, I can’t imagine having a lake nearby that you can’t swim in.
This isn’t the sign at my beach, its a clip art graphic.
I do not live in the big city lol!
Ours has the normal unsafe to swim sign that is standard for south western ontario….
its a Canada wide problem, call your health unit.
“By far the most common reason for beach closings is E. coli. E. coli is found in animal feces and makes its way into our lakes and ponds through rainwater runoff. People who ingest E. coli or related bacteria by swallowing water can experience stomach cramps and diarrhea. Many public swimming areas are monitored for E. coli, and beaches are closed if the number of E. coli colonies is too high.”
This is copied from the Northwestern Health Unit website. Animals have been around forever, haven’t they?
I swim in the lake, I swim in the sea, I’m a scuba diver!
I believe in the hygiene hypothesis. You need exposure to bacteria in order for the immune system to learn. 99.99% of bacteria are harmless or even beneficial. We are too clean, it is why North Americans have more allergies.
go tubing on my river every year.i do get a small rash on my arms a bit afterwards that lasts a week..i dont know how dirty it is but i have sensitive skin anyhow
Lori, hundreds of years ago there wasn’t as many animals or people lol! There is a lot more pollution (including feces) then there use to be.
i watched a dvd from the library called Waterlife: The Epic Journey of Our Water. i found out what is in our water and why it is so unsafe to swim in. i dont think i’ll look at a “fresh” water body of water the same way again. we’ve tainted every bit of our water supply….
from waterlife imdb page: “Water’s journey from streams entering Lake Superior to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence Seaway takes 350 years. The narration establishes the importance of the Great Lakes for the U.S. and Canada’s fresh water. Then, for each of the Great Lakes, plus Lake St. Clair, the film focuses on specific environmental problems: lamprey eels in Lake Superior, heavy metals in Lake Michigan, zebra mussels in Lake Huron, petrochemical waste in Lake Erie, and toxic waste dumps near Lake Ontario all degrade human and animal health. The film argues that governments and industry turn a blind eye to needed clean up and regulation, putting plants, fish, birds, and humans at risk.”
I live in southern Alberta – I’ve never seen any signs warning about the safety of water, other than signs stating that the swimming is unsupervised. I’m not too scared of germs though.