Stratford swimmers worry about dirty water

A Stratford, P.E.I., beach is closed to shell fishing, but residents are unclear about whether it is safe to swim in the water.

Pollution caused by sewage runoff from the Charlottetown treatment plant saw the Department of Fisheries and Ocean post signs prohibiting people from harvesting shellfish or crabs in the contaminated water around Tea Hill Beach.

No signs warn swimmers to stay away and officials could not say if the water was safe for people.

Lamont Sweet, the chief health officer for the province, said public health officials don't routinely test tidal waters because the tides usually move the contaminants away.

"If it is a beach with a swimming area, then it is the responsibility of the parks if they have evidence that it is not safe," he said.

Sweet said tests in previous years suggest the risks are very low, but that it's impossible to say without new tests. 

'It's scared me'

The town of Stratford owns the park, but officials there said they don't know if the water is safe. Officials said the beach is coastline and therefore the preserve of the provincial and federal government.

Resident Erin Smith used to regularly go to Tea Hill with her family, but hasn't gone once this year after hearing about the closures.

"It's scared me enough to just kind of keep us away from the beach in general," she said.

Nearby Camp Gencheff uses the beach regularly and chairman Tom DeBlois had not heard about the closures.

"One of their favourite activities is to go clam digging, steam them and prepare them as part of their meal, so now we obviously won't be doing that, but if there's other implications, we're not really aware," he said.

"If there's any restrictions on swimming or anything. I don't know who makes that call."

Charlottetown officials said the city is working on fixing the sewage treatment plant problem, but it needs to find $20 million to do it.