Beach Water Quality

Before you swim

West Kelowna has many beautiful beaches. However, lake water is not pristine and beach water quality can fluctuate due to a number of factors including lake currents, runoff and the outflow of creeks, changing environmental factors and waterfowl and animal waste.

Water quality is typically poorer in the summer. Warm weather escalates bacterial growth and wave action or swimmers stir up the lake bottom.

Health Canada establishes guidelines for recreational water quality, and the primary goal is public health and safety.

Lake water quality testing

Each summer, our staff collect lake water samples at our beaches for Interior Health to test and analyze.

Lake water is sampled weekly, with no fewer than five samples in a 30-day period.

View current beach water quality levels

West Kelowna submits test samples to Interior Health from lake water at:

Pebble Beach
Marina Park
Gellatly Aquatic Park
Pritchard Park

Swimming advisories

If a swimming advisory is required for high bacteria levels, signs will be posted at the affected beach. Up to date information will also be posted on the City's website. Once testing shows bacteria levels are within health guidelines, the swimming advisory will be rescinded, and signs will be removed.

A swimming advisory notifies beach users that E. coli bacterial levels in the lake are higher than what Health Canada’s Guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality allow, which is 400 per 100-millilitre sample.

If E. coli reaches 200 units per 100 millilitre sample, for example, one per cent of bathers may develop gastrointestinal illness (GI) if these bacteria are ingested. For every one GI illness, two to three other illnesses, such as skin rashes, excluding swimmer’s itch, and eye, ear and throat symptoms, may occur. The very young and old and people with weakened immunity are most susceptible.

To learn instead about swimmer's itch, please see HealthLinkBC resources.

Swim-smart tips

Please follow these steps to prevent waterborne illness and reactions:

Do not swallow lake water
Do not swim with an open cut or wound
Avoid swimming for 24 hours after a significant rainfall
Stay away from the water if you are experiencing digestive or intestinal problems
Wash your hands before handling food
Avoid areas where waterfowl are active

Understanding lake water quality

From the beach, lake water may look pristine, but any untreated water source is prone to environmental conditions that could cause health effects.

Please watch for concentrated waterfowl activity, mirky water that does not abate or that has high volumes of algae, which may cause the water to look or smell unpleasant and could cause skin and eye irritations or throat soreness or gastrointestinal illness, if swallowed:

Disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites, such as giardia and cryptosporidium, can be discharged directly into the lake or be transported by surface runoff. Lake water can become contaminated from waterfowl, wildlife and domestic animals, fertilizers, pesticides, garbage and other natural or human activities.
Escherichia coli (E. coli), or fecal coliform bacteria, originate from warm-blooded animals' digestive tracts. The type of E. coli found in our lakes may cause diarrhea or other gastrointestinal upset.
Lake water quality is typically poorer in summer due to warmer water and more swimmers. Contamination is more likely to increase during and after rainstorms.

Protect our beaches

The protection and safe management of recreational waterfront require everyone's care and cooperation:

Don’t feed birds
Don’t take your pet to the beach; dogs are only permitted at the Gellatly Dog Beach
Don’t litter or discard food on the beach
Change diapered children in the bathroom, not on the beach
Dispose of boat sewage in onshore sanitary facilities
Wash your hands with soap and water after going to the bathroom or changing diapers
Never bury waste in beach sand
Don't use lake water as a bathroom
Don't pour liquids or dispose of food or waste in the lake