Shediac businesses nervous about Parlee Beach water quality problems

SomeShediac-areabusiness owners are worried the provincial government's admission that the public was misinformedabout the bacteria levels atParleeBeach last summer will keep people away and hurt their bottom line.

Environment Minister Serge Rousselle announced Monday there were three weeks whenthe water quality at the province's most popular beach should have been rated poor, but wasn't because of a miscalculation, putting beachgoers at risk for illness and disease.

"All of a sudden the water is contaminated, it's not safe or whatever, peopleare going to say, 'Well we're going to go somewhere else, another beach in the States, or in Nova Scotia, P.E.I.' we're losing all these people," said Sbastien Richard, a chef at AubergeGabrileHotel and Restaurant.

Many local businesses rely on the seasonal influx of tourists Parlee Beach normally attracts, so much so that many of them don't even open outside beach season, said Richard, who lives in Memramcook.

"It's eightweeks ofhard-corebusiness," he said."There's peoplein and out every day all day long. It doesn't stop. If you take even a quarter of that, it's a quarter of sales that are gone for the year."

• Minister promises new Parlee Beach water-quality regime after public misinformed

Down the street at Hotel Shediac, which is open year-round, general manager Michelle Boudreau isn't quite as worried.

"It does make me a little nervous, but you know people have been coming to Shediac for 60 years now," she said. "It's a habit too, so if they vacation, they vacation in Shediac."

Boudreau, who grew up in nearbyCap-Pel, also pointed out, "there are things to do here, other than the beach."

Still, asa tourist she would probably be concerned, she admits.

"We've got smart people working for this province so I'm confident they'll find a solution."

The Town of Shediacalso stressed in an email to CBC News on Tuesday that the water quality issue falls under provincial jurisdiction, notmunicipal.

"The Town of Shediac is leaving it up to the province to rectify the situation," wrote general manager GillesBelleau.

"We are confident the Department [of Environment] will make the necessary corrections for the future of Parlee Beach.

"Our positionwill bring nothing new to this matter, and that's why we wish to refrain from making any comments and let the province do its work."

Improvements coming

The government plans toupdatethe water quality testing and rating system by June, after a series of reports by CBC News pointed out thefecalbacteria levels atParleewere high enough to pose a health risk to children and the elderlyon 45 days last summer, but beachgoers were only informed the water quality was poor on 28 days.

Officials from three departments Environment,Health and Tourism, Heritage and Culture are looking for ways to improve the current monitoring and public notification systems, Rousselle said.

They are alsocollaborating with academic and private-sector experts to identify the sources of contamination.

Under the current system, three water samples are taken at the beginning of each week and the worst result is used to determine the water quality rating.

But "last summer, for one reason or another, the [Tourism Department] used an average of the three" tests, Rousselle said.

"There was effectively a mistake done," he said.