Beach Water Sampling
This dataset includes the sampling results for the five City of Ottawa supervised beaches for the swimming season from 2014 to present.
Five water samples per beach are collected weekly on Tuesdays during the swimming season and tested for E. coli bacteria. Results take at least 18 hours to receive and can range from 0 to a maximum of 1000 E. coli per 100mL. The geometric mean (GM) E. coli per 100mL is calculated for each beach from the five samples and posted on Wednesdays. If the regular weekly sample GM at a beach is greater than 400 E. coli per 100mL, resampling will be done at that beach in the same week. Resampling will also be done if a sampling error (for example, due to delay in receipt of the sample at the lab) occurs with the regular weekly sample. Any available resampling results are posted on Fridays.
Date created: June 17, 2026
Update frequency: Wednesdays and Fridays from June through August.
Accuracy: No known errors. Points of consideration for interpretation of the data:
- Prior to 2025, beach water samples were collected daily during the swimming season.
- Prior to 2026, resampling only occurred due to sampling error.
- If the GM is 200 E. coli per 100mL of water or less, the sample meets the standard set in the Ontario Recreational Water Guideline.
- If the GM is more than 200 E. coli per 100mL, the sample does not meet the standard. High E. coli in recreational water may increase the chances of stomach illnesses and skin, eye or ear infections for people swimming or wading, especially children.
Sampling of beach water provides a snapshot of water quality at the time it was taken, but the water quality can change quickly depending on environmental conditions. Be aware of conditions and make an informed decision before
Attributes - Data fields:
- Beach, Sampling date (DD-MMM-YY), GM E. coli
Author: Blayr Kelly
Author email: [email protected]
Maintainer Organization: Ottawa Public Health
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Additional Info
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| Last Updated | August 29, 2026, 07:13 (UTC) |
| Created | March 24, 2026, 20:41 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Beach Water Sampling |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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This dataset includes the sampling results for the five City of Ottawa supervised beaches for the swimming season from 2014 to present. Five water samples per beach are collected weekly on Tuesdays during the swimming season and tested for E. coli bacteria. Results take at least 18 hours to receive and can range from 0 to a maximum of 1000 E. coli per 100mL. The geometric mean (GM) E. coli per 100mL is calculated for each beach from the five samples and posted on Wednesdays. If the regular weekly sample GM at a beach is greater than 400 E. coli per 100mL, resampling will be done at that beach in the same week. Resampling will also be done if a sampling error (for example, due to delay in receipt of the sample at the lab) occurs with the regular weekly sample. Any available resampling results are posted on Fridays. Date created: June 17, 2026
Attributes - Data fields:
Maintainer Organization: Ottawa Public Health
Download note: If you are having problems downloading using Microsoft Edge as your web browser, try disabling the “Open Office files in the browser” option in Settings. |
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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194.74 |
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Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2020-06-23 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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public |
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License
License used to access the dataset.
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https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/get-know-your-city/open-data#open-data-licence-version-2-0 |
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Limits on use
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Location
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https://od-dev2-ottawa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ottawa::beach-water-sampling |
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Data Service
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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[email protected] |
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Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
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City of Ottawa |
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Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
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[email protected] |
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Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
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City of Ottawa |
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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[email protected] |
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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2026-08-27 |
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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e5ae84eb794e4dfe85d755013c136b45 |
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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English |
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Link to dataset description
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https://od-dev2-ottawa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ottawa::beach-water-sampling |
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Persistent Identifier
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Globally Unique Identifier
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Contains data about individuals
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
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Contains Indigenous Data
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Portal Type
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Version
Version of the datatset
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None |
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Source
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None |
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Version notes
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Is version of another dataset
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Other versions
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
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City of Ottawa |
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
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Number of data properties
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Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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Metric for data quality
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