Vancouver Coastal Health wants to see local beaches exempt from a proposal by Transport Canada that suggests small pleasure boats be allowed to dump their sewage closer to shore.

Medical health officer Dr. Mark Lysyshyn said such a move, which is still in the public consultation phase, could potentially increase the occurrence of E. coli in local waters and lead to more frequent closures of the area’s beaches. Under Transport Canada’s plan, small boats carrying fewer than 15 people would be allowed to discharge sewage just one nautical mile from shore, closer than the three nautical miles that are required today.

One nautical mile is roughly the distance between Sunset and Kitsilano beaches, Lysyshyn said.

Last summer was one of the worst for E. coli at local beaches, Lysyshyn said, with West Vancouver beaches closed for much of August and favourites like Sunset Beach posting “beach closed” signs.

“This concerned us because we don’t know to what degree the water quality at the beaches is affected by small boats but that’s part of the equation,” Lysyshyn said. “We just felt like this wasn’t the right direction to go. The West Vancouver beaches were closed for almost four weeks, almost all of August, exactly when people would want to swim.

“We typically have (high) counts in False Creek but this was a new problem.”

Lysyshyn, in conjunction with Metro Vancouver municipalities, has sent a letter to Transport Canada outlining Vancouver Coastal Health’s concerns with the proposal, which is among a series of amendments to Transport Canada’s Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemical Regulations.

Lysyshyn notes it’s very difficult to police small vessels and is asking Transport Canada to maintain the status quo.

“We’d like to work with them to have the beaches around our district, in Burrard Inlet, as a no-discharge area,” Lysyshyn said, adding beaches are seen as great areas for recreation and physical activities. He noted municipalities, which are responsible for maintaining local beaches as well as sewage collection, have an economic incentive to keep the areas clean.

High levels of bacteria are usually blamed on fecal contamination from human or animal sources.

Metro Vancouver, which monitors water quality at beaches all year, issued swimming advisories last July for the Ambleside, Dundarave and Sandy Cove beaches along West Vancouver’s English Bay waterfront after E. coli levels were found to be above the maximum allowable guideline of 200 bacteria per 100 millilitres of water. Sunset Beach was also found to be at 231 counts. This means the sea water could pose health or infection risks, especially if swimmers swallow it.

“When the levels get too high you start to see an association with gastrointestinal illnesses.” Lysyshyn said.

The waters of east False Creek, near Vancouver’s downtown core, off Science World, also had a bacteria count of 500. No advisories were issued there because it is not considered a swimming beach, but there were warnings to paddlers to stay out of the water.

Transport Canada declined to comment Friday because the process is still in the consultation phase.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

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