Swim advisory in place at Parlee Beach even as province says water quality is fine

The New Brunswick government has issued a swim advisory for Parlee Beach in Shediac, N.B., saying that bacterial levels in the water are higher than acceptable levels — potentially impacting a person’s health.

Despite Parlee Beach being open for less than a month, Tuesday was the second day in a row that the water is not fit for swimming.

Steve Seal, who often walks through the park with his wife, says the province is not moving fast enough to revolve Parlee Beach’s water quality problems.

Work to upgrade the park’s sewage system, cited as at least one likely source of the problem, isn’t slated to begin until after this summer’s tourism season.

“This could have been done last season or at least at the beginning of this season so we would have had a summer with at least better water conditions,” Seal said.

READ MORE: Report finds that water quality at Parlee Beach ‘very good’ 95 per cent of the time

He believes the water and the reputation of the popular beach are now tainted.

The province, however, insists the water quality at Parlee Beach is fine.

Paul Bradley, a spokesperson for the department of health, said that in 2017, 98.6 per cent of the samples taken and analyzed were below the bacteria guidelines the province uses to determine water quality.

Parlee Beach had 23 no-swimming advisories in place last year, but 15 of them were precautionary due to rainfall. The province says only eight days with no-swimming advisories were due to actual testing results.

And it is taking steps to make sure there are fewer red-flag days this summer — implementing a water-quality monitoring program.

WATCH: Parlee Beach-area residents concerned about contaminants

Several businesses in downtown Shediac say they saw a drop in tourism traffic last summer after the water-quality issues were made public.

But the owner of a takeout shack in Shediac, Frank LeBlanc, says he is not concerned about his bottom-line this summer

“I do know that there has been some impact to the tourism but I think the tourism and the environment are both looking into this, the ministries, and they will be addressing it,” LeBlanc said.

Others, however, think that is happening too little too late to lure those who did stay away last year — back to the beach this summer.

“I think more than anything, they have public stigma to fight at this point.”