in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A ug us t 5, 20 21 | 2 Experience Ontario all over again. There's so much to rediscover in Ontario. From endless parks and trails to bustling cities and local businesses. Let's get back to exploring Ontario. Get started today at destinationontario.com Climate change weighs heavily on the mind of envi- ronmental lawyer and president of Swim Drink Fish Mark Mattson, who fears the current water in- frastructure in communi- ties such as Oakville and Burlington won't keep up with the developing reality of the changing climate. "There is definitely wor- ry that our current old in- frastructure will not be able to protect our beaches and freshwater," Mattson told the Oakville Beaver. SDF gathers water sam- ples in the province's many recreational water bodies, including Lake Ontario. The agency then provides the data to the public via its app called Swim Guide. Mattson, and experts like him, have noticed an uptick in heavy rain- storms, which can contrib- ute to increased water pol- lution close to the lake's shore. "Over the last five years on Lake Ontario, we have seen extreme weather. (Be- tween) 2017 and 2019, we ex- perienced extreme one- in-100-years levels of wet weather, while for most of 2020-21 it was extremely dry," Mattson added. "Cli- mate change makes every- thing harder to predict. That's the kind textbook disruption climate change is going to play." Rachel Gardner, spokes- person for Halton Region, said water testing is carried out weekly and the status of water quality changes on a regular bases. The Region informs the public of water quality on their website. Gardner added that in 2020 and so far in 2021, 50 per cent of the samples col- lected from Bronte Beach contained E.coli levels above provincial limits. "The models for Canada project increasing precipi- tation in general," profes- sor of geography, environ- ment and geomatics Ze'ev Gedalof told the Oakville Beaver. The rising temperature is also likely to decrease ice cover over the Great Lakes which, according to Geda- lof, are a "water source to deliver that precipitation earlier in the year and later in the year. So we are going to have a longer season for intense rainfall." Ministry of the Environ- ment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) spokes- person Lindsay Davidson confirms the MECP is see- ing "more frequent and ex- treme events such as severe rain, ice storms, and pro- longed droughts" due to cli- mate change. The City of Toronto has combined sewers, meaning both stormwater and wastewater share one pip- ing system. During heavy rainfall, the system is over- whelmed, causing the E.co- li from wastewater, called combined sewer overflows (CSOs), to be dumped into Lake Ontario. The city is undergoing infrastructure projects in the hopes of eliminating "combined sewer outflows." Gardner added in her statement that the region "has separated sewers." Both wastewater and stormwater have their own segregated systems. And yet, Halton Region's own website says it is possible for rain to dirty the water at beaches like the one in Bronte Village. Various kinds of surface run-off, like pet waste, farm waste and household waste, can make their way in. The Town of Oakville did not provide info on why Bronte Beach is such a hot spot for E.coli when asked by the Beaver. But spokes- person for the Town of Oak- ville Julia Le assured resi- dents that "the town has signage at Bronte Beach advising the public wheth- er it is safe or unsafe to swim." Chef Jose Vicente An- grita moved to Canada with his wife Luisa de la Torre and their daughter Victo- ria five years ago. The Oak- ville Beaver found the trio getting ready to go out on the water on paddleboards at Bronte Beach. When asked if he knew about how more rain from climate change could cause more sewage outfall, he said he felt like he "missed half the lesson." ARE BEACHES VULNERABLE TO CLIMATE CHANGE? Jose Vicente Angrita, wife Luisa de la Torre and their daughter Victoria get ready to head out on Lake Ontario on their paddleboards. Mansoor Tanweer/Metroland MANSOOR TANWEER mtanweer@metroland.com NEWS ENVIROMENTAL LAWYER WEIGHS IN ON ISSUE