METRO VANCOUVER — Vancouver Coastal Health has ruled out Metro Vancouver’s Lions Gate primary-treatment sewage plant as the source of high E. coli levels on West Vancouver beaches.

“There does not seem to be an unusual treatment failure or anything like that,” medical health officer Dr. John Carsley said in an interview Monday. “We hope that time and tide will take care of things.”

The Lions Gate plant opened in 1961; it is scheduled to be replaced by a $700-million secondary-treatment plant in 2020.

While sewage discharge from a ship could have caused the elevated readings, none has been discovered. “The investigation is pretty much at an end.”

Carsley said new water-quality tests were taken on Monday, with the results expected Tuesday afternoon.

Vancouver Coastal has issued “no swimming” advisories for the Ambleside, Dundarave and Sandy Cove beaches along West Vancouver’s English Bay waterfront.

Those beaches have E. coli levels above the maximum allowable guideline of 200 bacteria per 100 millilitres of water, meaning the seawater could pose health or infection risks, especially if swimmers swallow it.

In comparison, Vancouver’s English Bay beach had a bacteria count of 29, Second Beach 19 and Third Beach 14.

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

Health officials say the waters of False Creek East, near Vancouver’s downtown core, off Science World, have a bacteria count of 500, but an advisory has not been posted there because the rocky and steep shoreline means it is not considered a swimming or bathing beach.

lpynn@vancouversun.com

with files from The Canadian Press