NOTE: This story is from 2009, White Pine Beach is all good now, and we hope to do a follow-up story this summer about our fantastic local lake.
It’s not what you want to hear on a hot and sunny Friday afternoon, but yesterday Metro Vancouver announced a swimming advisory at White Pine Beach. The Fraser Health Authority detected high fecal coliform levels at the popular local swimming spot. Signs have been posted and people are advised to stay out of the water until further notice.
Metro Vancouver hopes that they will be able to re-open the beach next week. Until then it looks like you’ll have to battle the crowds at Buntzen Lake. If you need more information or want further updates you can call Metro Vancouver Parks – Central Area at 604-520-6442.
Update: As of July 21 the notice is no longer up on the Belcarra park website, so it seems that the ‘no swimming’ advisory is no longer in effect at White Pine Beach.
I was at White Pine today. After we set up all our stuff, my husband noticed a little yellow “Notice” on the board. It stated it was not advised to swim in the lake. By then there were many kids and adults alike, enjoying the water. The ranger that we questioned said he could not comment on the water condition. So we stayed and enjoyed the day. I made sure the kids were not submerging in the water or drinking it. After we got home everyone had a scrub down. So far so good- no ill effects from the beach trip.
I am quite dissapointed how Fraser Health handled the situation though. The signs were not visible to all people and if the water was really bad, the beach should have been closed all together.
I do not watch the news so I was obviously not aware of the warnings.
That’s crazy. We heard about it on the CBC Radio yesterday and did a little further investigating to do the post. The folks at Metro Vancouver/Fraser Health couldn’t have been that concerned with some small signs and not much else.
I agree with Eva. We loaded up the kids first thing this morning, because anyone who has been to white pine knows what its like to get a parking spot past 10Am. We were on our way down to the beach when we saw the little tiny yellow sign that reported the advisory. So small we almost overlooked it. When we got down there were ppl swimming and we were gonna go for it but we noticed another little white paper posted with the same advisory. The signs were in English only and I would assume that anyone who cant read english wouldn’t see the sign anyways!
On a better note Buntzen lake was amazing
My husband and I have been swimming at White Pine Beach for years and every year it is getting worse with people littering, drinking and disposing their bottles/cans, etc in the water. I am very disappointed with the people that take this beautiful lake for granted. All the cigarette butts on the beach and water is horrifying. Fines need to be implemented and the police need to be at the beach 24/7 to make the sure that the yahoo’s that are bringing booze, cannot gain access to the park.
I went to white pine yesterday… not a single sign was posted. no rangers advising people not to swim. nothing.
i was there late in the evening entering on the the non beached side and Not a single sign to be found. No rangers warned us. And my boyfriend and his friends were even there earlier in the day, and the police EVEN searched there bags and the port moody police did not even notify them
of this water warning. That is discusting.
I’ve been going to the beach since 1988 and over that period of time I’ve noticed an increase of bone heads who through garbage inthe lake, skink their emptys. The lake has now become a large toilet. There is only one decent swimming hole in the lower mainland and it is being destroyrd by bozo who rarely swim further than five feet of the dock and leave their garbage everyware ruining it for the rest of us. I agree with Anne do not just throught the yahoos out of the park for drinking but charge them.
I’ve been going there for about 15 years. I was there the day before the ban. My friends and I were disgusted. There were geese all over. They were very agressive, and they were eating the garbage that was all around. I’d never seen it so bad. I never remember there being geese all over. There was geese poop all over and, my friends found tons of beer cans in the lake (they actually snorkled). People were using the beach like some type of garbage dump. I can’t believe how ignorant people are. This used to be the place i’d go to be in CLEAN water. That is no longer the case. There were park rangers there, that seemed to do nothing. They were just standing there even though the beach was littered with garbage and geese eating it and pooping all over. I made a complaint to the GVRD. I recommend others do as well.
I have no problem with drinking at the beach (I’ve done it myself). I would never just leave my garbage though. There is no excuse there are garbage cans and recycling cans all over.
I was at the lake yesterday, it should still be closed, the poor thing needs to filter itself. My father and i picked up 6 bags of garbage from around the lake and we covered less than 20%!! there are massive amounts of empty cans at the ends of the trees sticking into the water and my father dove down to get some of them and has been paying the price ever since snorting sniffling and sneezing, like many other i can recall a crystal clear lake and miss not being sick from a nice swim. how can they say the lake is fine, first it needs to be cleaned, underwater as well as the shoreline, and just so everyone knows its not just empties cans and bottles that i found, SOME LOW LIFE TRASH THINKS ITS FINE TO CHAGE THERE BABY AND LEAVE THE DIAPER STASHED ON THE SIDE OF THE LAKE WE ALL SWIM IN !!! less than 2 feet from the bloody water line,, c’mon dude
A baby diaper? Good god, that is so nasty. Thank you for picking up trash though and trying to keep our community beautiful!
The same rules as in camping apply…..pack out your garbage, and leave the park in as good or better shape than when you came in. That way we can all enjoy the park for years to come.
I think smoking cigarettes should be banned at the beach. The sand is not a giant ash tray, and I have bad allergies to smoke. Who needs a stranger’s second-hand smoke?
I have been swimming at Sasamatt Lake long before it was called White Pines Beach, I would count the days to summer when I could swim in the pristene cool water of Sasamatt Lake, I would be in the water more than out , I am in my 50′s now , the steady decline of this once beautiful lake has been observed by people like myself who actually do speak up and have for many years to get the GVRD to do something about the way people disrespect this rare gem.
Three weeks ago I asked a park worker if the water is regularly checked, he said he thought so, I shared with him a story of a friend whon contacted a nasty rash, not once but twice, took 2 years to clear it up.My 25 yr old cannot swim in Sassamatt at all, for years she has tried, she gets the swimmers itch every time she tries, coliform from fecal matter.
How many times did I hear parents encourage their kids to go pee in the lake, how many kids do you actually see using the very nice toilet facility’s, how many adults for that matter,not very many,
It is shameful,sad and irreasponsible for everyone who has had a part in the demize of White Pine Beach,everyone PLEEZE get with the program, its not your personal toilet,worst offenders are the teenagers.I watched a guy swing from a rope on a tree one summer who was so drunk a tree branch entered right threw his shoulderand out the other side, Port Moody Police, not diligent enough about the drinking and the smoking of Pot in the woods as you enter the trails, do we have to loose our Park to a forest fire or worse because of human negligence and people not being reasponsible.PLease take care now before its lost forever .
The more that we talk about these issues, and the more attention that we can bring to keeping our parks clean, the more we can avoid the “tragedy of the commons” that so often happens. Thank you for commenting!
Well it’s been nearly a year now since the last post. Has anyone been out there this year yet? I wonder if the water is even warm enough yet to jump right in like it was last year at this time.
I haven’t been up there yet, but I’m planning on getting there soon and doing an update. Info about White Pine Beach seems to be fairly popular.