AJAX -- The Town is going to take part in an international study of water quality in Lake Ontario.

The International Joint Commission is doing a water quality study in 2008 and the area from the Rouge River to Carruthers Creek, out to 30 to 40 metres depth, will be part of the study.

Gary Bowen of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority told Ajax council on Tuesday, “What they’re looking for are contrasting areas of development.”

Objectives of the study are to look at factors affecting water quality, such as the growth of algae, phosphorus and other nutrients, as well the movement of materials, and the effect of tributaries on the areas near the shore.

The study is being co-ordinated by senior government officials with environmental agencies in Canada and the U.S. and will involve leading water quality experts.

“The 2008 study will look at issues around the lake,” he said. “They’ll look at everybody in sync and doing work.”

The study will only focus on the lake and won’t be testing up creeks or rivers.

During a presentation to council, Mr. Bowen updated councillors on the water quality study along the Town’s shoreline this past summer. He was presenting “very preliminary findings,” he added.

“Overall, the water quality in 2007 appears better than in 2006,” Mr. Bowen stated, but noted it was a dry summer and that affected the findings.

“The focus was really to look at wet weather,” he said.

There are generally 70 storms a year, or a little more than one a week.

“From April to October, we would expect 15 to 16 rain storms and we didn’t get it this year,” he said.

Due to the dry conditions, on several occasions, the levels of E. coli and phosphorus were so low as to be almost uncountable, Mr. Bowen stated.

The E. coli counts “out in the lake, the amounts are so low we almost can’t count them,” he added.

Mr. Bowen noted the same plan will be followed next year.

The beach at Pickering Beach was opened 11 out of 13 weeks and “it’s not near any watersheds. At Rotary Park, the creak is coming in where they’re sampling,” he said.

Ajax had wanted the water quality tested because the beach at Rotary Park had been closed to swimmers during the summers of 2005 and 2006. Town officials felt the close proximity of the beach to the Durham York Water Pollution Control Plant was affecting the water quality.

The water quality was taken at the surface, except for the WPCP, where quality was tested at different depths.

“It would be nice to be able to achieve those numbers next summer if its a wet summer,” Mr. Bowen said.

Effluent from the water pollution control plant is “well mixed in the lake. The levels are so low, we’re almost not able to read it,” he added.

Wards 1 and 2 Regional Councillor Scott Crawford asked if the “WPCP isn’t the cause of the (beach) closings.”

“That’s what this is suggesting. I don’t think it’s the source at all of your beach closings,” Mr. Bowen stated.