For beach-goers, swimmers, and surfers in BC, finding and enjoying a perfect stretch of sand and water just got easier. A new Swim Guide App free from Vancouver conservation NGO Fraser Riverkeeper and Toronto-based Lake Ontario Waterkeeper helps users locate the closest, cleanest beaches in their area.
Along with GPS-based directions to local swimming holes and surf spots, users get a chance to view beach photos and descriptions. Most importantly, they find out if the water there is safe for themselves and their families to swim.
Swim Guide is revolutionary, says Fraser Riverkeeper executive director Lauren Hornor. It leads people to great beaches they might never have known about, and having the latest water-quality updates allows families and beach-goers to swim and surf safely. It does what we always hoped technology would do connect us to our local places, while helping protect them.
The protection part, says Hornor, has to do with new functionality released in version 2.0 of the Swim Guide. Via a new dead-fish icon, users can report on pollution and water-quality issues. Smart-phone users can even send photos of their pollution concerns. All reports are catalogued by Fraser Riverkeeper and sent to water-quality monitoring bodies like Vancouver Coastal Health and Vancouver Island Health Authority, deputizing locals as stewards of their beloved beaches.
Prominent public figures like Gord Downie and Robert Kennedy Jr. have put their support behind the project.
The innovative app originated with a team from the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper chapter, which set out to determine if it was safe to swim in Lake Ontario. Seven years later, after beta testing by Fraser Riverkeeper in 2011 and input from more than 100 different beach monitoring sources covering more than 1,300 beaches a day North Americans from the St. Lawrence River to Miami to Los Angeles can now check the status and cleanliness of their local beaches in real time.
The guide is available from Apples App Store, Google Play, or TheSwimGuide.org.
