It's sink or swim time for polluted Bayfront Park beach.

A city study this year will determine if the beautiful but bacteria-ridden stretch of harbour sand is salvageable for swimming after a decade of failed cleanup efforts.

Regardless, the city is committed to connecting residents to the water in the popular harbour park, said waterfront development manager Gavin Norman.

"But maybe it shouldn't be a beach. Maybe we have a naturalized area with trails, or maybe it's a wetland," he said. "We certainly haven't made any decisions … Part of this will also be figuring out if people value the area as a beach."

Historically, Bayfront has been posted unsafe for swimmers more often than not — last summer, about 63 per cent of the time — because of high E. coli counts and toxic algae.

'We'll have to review the data and make a decision, one way or another," said health protection manager Eric Mathews.

Mathews noted new provincial protocols require the public health department to "determine the suitability" of beaches for recreational use.

Various levels of government and community organizations have worked for decades to improve water quality in the harbour, including high-profile projects like sewage plant upgrades and the Randle Reef pollution-trapping strategy.

Bay Area Restoration Council head Chris McLaughlin said Bayfront beach "has proven particularly difficult to figure out" — but he hopes the city study gives it a second chance.

"It's a relief to hear they haven't given up on it," he said. "If you're planning for the next generation, you have to think maybe people living in the area will value amenities like beaches."

Smaller scale beach-saving efforts have proved more successful at the city's other harbourside beach. At Pier 4, a successful battle against foul waterfowl has helped keep the beach open to swimmers more than half the time since 2006. Last summer, that number jumped to nearly 70 per cent.

Bayfront, by contrast, has never been considered safe for swimming even half the time, despite similar efforts. "It's been a constant headache," said Norman, noting there is often little to show for painstaking cleanup and maintenance.

But depending on the study recommendations — and the state of the municipal budget — Norman said the city could explore anything from better run-off control to wholesale redesign of the dramatically curved beach.

Past Environment Canada studies have shown the beach inlet has "little to no" water circulation, which makes it that much more difficult to flush out pollution.

So far, the city has earmarked $100,000 to study potential Bayfront changes — a drop in the bucket of a far more ambitious redevelopment underway in the West Harbour.

The city has vowed to have Piers 7 and 8 ready by 2018 for a hoped-for residential and commercial redevelopment expected to be worth more than $500 million.

Along the way, the city is committing tens of millions of dollars to rebuilding shorelines, breakwaters and marinas along the harbourfront.

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Public health, parks and waterfront development staff will meet early in June to plan the study, which Norman expects to last about a year.

Construction in the park — which is likely to include improvements to trails, public plaza areas and "naturalization" of some grassy park slopes — is tentatively slated for 2017.