Westboro Beach Community Association

Date/time – Saturday May 23rd at 10:00 a.m.

Rain date/time – Sunday May 24th at 10:00 a.m.

This clean-up kicks off the 2009 WBCA community events calendar   In the past we have focused on the beach and riverfront, but this year we would like to expand this activity to cover the entire community.  How can you help?  Just show up and pick up trash.  The WBCA will supply garbage bags and small boxes for glass.  We are providing small boxes so that bottles and broken glass are recycled and do not end up in the garbage.  All you need to provide are sets of willing hands and gloves to protect those willing hands from the trash.

This year we are setting up three collection stations (see attached map).  The collection stations are located at Westboro Beach, the CBC pathway, and the park near Remic Avenue.  You can go to the collect station closest to your home and pick up a garbage bag and/or box.  We have scouted the area and noted areas that require special attention.  They will be marked on maps at each collection station.  You can select an area that appeals to you and away you go.  If you are aware of any problem areas that we missed, please let us know and we will add them to the list.  Once you have finished cleaning up your area simply drop off the trash at one of the collection stations and we will arrange to have the garbage disposed of and the glass recycled.

We look forward to seeing you at this event.

Westboro Beach received a lot of attention this summer because of the number of days that the beach was closed for swimming. Out of a season of 65 days, the beach was posted with a no-swimming advisory for 23 days. 14 of these postings were the result of elevated E. coli levels and 9 of the postings were caused by the ‘rain rule’…in other words, after heavy rains it is assumed that storm water runoff will cause pollution at the beach.

A report prepared by Baird Associates on the Bacterial Assessment at Westboro Beach was made available this past Spring (and can be viewed on our website). The findings of the report are somewhat inconclusive, but they do confirm that storm sewer discharges from outfalls upstream of Westboro Beach are key contributors to the bacterial contamination at the beach during wet weather.

Alternatives to mitigate the issues at Westboro Beach are presented in the report and fundamentally the WBCA supports a stormwater detention alternative. I’ve been involved with Don Paskovich and John Almstedt in reviewing the report findings with Baird Associates and city representatives. An objective of our community association is to make sure that Westboro Beach continues to receive attention when it comes to funding for storm water infrastructure improvements.

Westboro Outfall Drainage Area provided by the City of Ottawa Water Environment Protection Program.

Google Map overlay of Westboro Outfalls Drainage Area

Bacterial Assessment at Westboro Beach (6 Mbytes)

Summary of Bacterial Assessment at Westboro Beach (80 kbytes)