How to make sure the water you’re swimming in is safe

If hitting the water close to home is part of your summer plans, it pays to be prepared. Besides stocking up on sunscreen and a bug spray, get ready for any sun, sand and surf trip by going over some basic water-safety tips. Here's what you need to know before jumping into any of Canada's bodies of water.

E. Coli and other water quality issues
Check the water quality of any beach before you go in. Most post water-quality signs on the beaches themselves, and many municipalities maintain beach-quality updates online.

Beaches will be posted as unsafe when E. Coli bacteria is found in elevated levels. E Coli comes from animal and human waste and is an indicator that water quality is poor, and that the water is also heavy in other bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Don't chance it and swim a posted beach. You're putting your whole family at risk for ear, eye, nose, throat or gastrointestinal infections.

Finally, go to blueflag.ca to get updated listings for Canada's best beaches, chosen for their safety, water quality and environmental management.

Stay away from hydro electric dams and stations
The calm water upstream of a hydro-electric dam or station can seem like the perfect spot for a dip or canoe ride. And the river downstream of one may seem like an ideal spot to wade or cast a fishing line. Don't risk it though. Dams are operated remotely as the need for electricity dictates, and a river bed downstream that's calm one moment can be swamped in whitewater rapids the next – submerging your boat or washing you into the current. Upriver, boats or swimmers can be pulled into the dam or generating station. Heed warning signs posted by any utility companies, even if you can't see the actual dam or station.

Check the water depth before diving
Every year 50 Canadian swimmers suffer a spinal cord injury after diving into shallow water and colliding headfirst with the bottom or obstructions such as rocks, says ThinkFirst, the National Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Prevention Foundation. These injuries commonly result in paralysis. Others end in death when the injured party drowns after sustaining a concussion or spinal cord injury.

Don't dive – or let your kids dive – off a dock, riverbank or other surface unless you are 100 per cent positive the water below is at least 2.75 metres deep (roughly 9 feet). Jump in foot first until you know for sure. Remember, water can appear deeper than it actually is.

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