The sights before Daniel Sinclair are so breathtaking they could move him to tears.

“It’s a glorious day,” says the 41-year-old on Sunday morning, his feet deep in a mound of sand. “The lake looks like there are crushed diamonds across the water. It’s beautiful.”

No, he’s not standing along Bondi Bay. He’s at Woodbine Beach, which, believe it or not, he finds comparable to the sandy shores in his hometown of Sydney, Australia.

But nobody in Toronto seems to believe him.

“People are shocked when I say I come here to swim,” he says. “Meanwhile, I’m looking around and wondering, ‘Where is everybody?’”

Thanks to Lake Ontario’s grimy reputation, the city’s beaches are avoided by many Torontonians, even though eight of them — including Woodbine — have been deemed “world class” by the international Blue Flag program.

The globally-recognized eco-label is awarded annually to beaches that meet a strict set of environmental and safety criteria.

“Looking at the last decade, Toronto’s beaches have had consistently good water quality,” says Blue Flag program co-ordinator Brett Tryon.

“But some myths just persist,” she says. “People seem to think their toe is going to fall off if they stick their foot in the water. That’s just not true.”

Still, locals remain convinced the lake is floating with unsavoury elements.

“All my life, I’ve heard there are dead bodies and feces in Lake Ontario,” says Aviva Columbo, 27, who much prefers to lounge under her umbrella than venture into the water. “And now they’re suddenly saying we’ve got great beaches? Is it to drag tourists into our city?”

After a monstrous deluge pelted the city on July 8, health officials warned against swimming at most Toronto beaches due to high concentrations of E.coli. Within days, however, the bacteria level at most beaches dropped well below the provincial standard.

“Some of the levels weren’t even that high, but Ontario has very high safety standards,” says Tryon. While Ontario draws a red flag when tests show more than 100 E.coli parts per 100 ml of water, the rest of Canada does so when levels exceed 200 parts. “And the city tests the water on a daily basis, which isn’t actually necessary in Ontario.”

Tryon says a history of industrial plants along the waterfront and a habit of pumping sewage into the water are the reason for Lake Ontario’s bad rap. But Toronto’s wealth of infrastructural investments — from stormwater retention tanks along beaches to treatment plants along rivers — have caused the filthy tides to change.

“I remember hearing stories in the ’80s about being able to develop photos in water because of all the chemicals,” says Karen Sabourin while watching her son refine his dog paddle at Cherry Beach. “It’s much better now. But people still drive for hours to swim up north when we’ve got excellent beaches in our backyard.”

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Nevertheless, Sinclair believes it’s just a matter of time before Toronto beaches become postcard material. He’s seen the same thing happen in Sydney.

“Bondi Beach was once very unclean because of sewage,” he says. “Then, one day, they fixed it. But it took about five to 10 years for people to really appreciate it.”