With predictions for a scorching summer fear not if your backyard is bereft of a place to swim, Toronto’s beaches have been declared fit for the season.
The opening of the city’s 11 lifeguarded beaches yesterday comes just in time, as this weekend promises to be the start of what meteorologists predict will be a warmer than usual June/July/August. According to Environment Canada, temperatures across the GTA are expected to reach just above 30 degrees today, tomorrow and Sunday.
And if you’re skeptical about the water quality off Toronto’s beaches, don’t be. Despite the reputation, six of the city’s lifeguarded beaches have again received the international Blue Flag designation, handed out in Ontario by Environmental Defence, a not for profit organization that since 2003 has used the international Blue Flag program administered by the Copenhagen-based Foundation for Environmental Education, to rate Toronto’s beaches.
“Toronto’s beaches stack up very well,” says Sarah Winterton, who oversees the Blue Flag program. “In studying the water quality for these beaches the ones that have the blue flags have consistently had good water quality.”
