Beach water quality group meeting with P.E.I. government

International beach certification group Blue Flag is meeting with the P.E.I. government to talk about water quality and safety at beaches.

• Beach water quality on P.E.I.'s south shore may soon have some monitoring
• P.E.I. needs water-monitoring protocol, national charity says

"The provincial government really want to know more about the program," saidKelsey Scarfone, Blue Flag program coordinator.

"It's very preliminary at this point. It was a chance to meet and chat about the benefits of Blue Flag."

'A great flagship'

Blue Flag is an international beach and marina certificationprogram and isrun in Canada bythe non-profit organization Environmental Defence.

"We're a program that focuses on excellent water quality, safety and services, environmental education and environmental management," Scarfone said.

She's on P.E.I. as part of an East Coast tour, somewhatrelated, Scarfone said,to a comment made by provincial Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Bakerback in July.

"I think it would be a great flagship for P.E.I. to be able to say we have a Blue Flag beach, or several of them," he said previously.

Regular testing

The first step of certifying a beach, said Scarfone, is through an application and study. After water tests and a review by a Canadian and international jury, beaches can be approved to be Blue Flag certified.

It's a program that providesthe public with "peace of mind" when planning a trip to the beach, Scarfone said.

At a certified beach, water quality is checked weekly, she said, usually by park staff if it's provincially run,andresults are posted at the beach.

There's also lifeguards or safety equipment,first aid and more.

"It's important to people because people want to know the water that they're swimming in is safe and clean. People want to bring their kids to places where the water quality is excellent," said Scarfone.

There are only two Blue Flag beachesin Atlantic Canada at the moment: the Halifax waterfront and Birch Cove Beach in Dartmouth, N.S.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | 13-year-old directing Shakespeare's Hamlet across P.E.I.
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Charlottetown trading movies with Shetland Islands