Earlier in the week, City crews removed the last of the large pieces of debris from Emerald Beach located at the Erie Basin Marina. Over the weekend a few of BRO’s writers rode down to the site to see the result (and picked up a few pieces of litter before they left). The rest of the cleanup is going to up to the beach-goers – it should only take a couple of rakes to clear the rest of the scattered driftwood.
As we stood looking out at the clear blue water, we discussed the water quality on the American side as well as the Canadian side. There are some great public beaches on the Canadian side of the lake, many of which are found along the Rails to Trails (like this beach for example). At this point, there is no swimming at Emerald Beach due mainly to marina traffic. Let’s just say that swimming was allowed… if enough safety precautions were met to allow people in the water… down the road that might be a possibility. But what is the water quality at Emerald Beach? That’s what we’re going to find out, hopefully.
BRO writer, Anna Miller, has offered to reach out to some of the local experts to test the waters at the beach, just to see what the condition is. If all goes according to plan, we should have an answer for you in the next couple of weeks.