Just ahead of the weekend, the Capital Regional District (CRD) and Island Health have tested the waters at Banfield Park’s dock and deemed it is safe to swim in.
Earlier this week, an anonymous Redditor turned to the online Victoria forum to seek guidance.
The Redditor said they work for a company in the Burnside-Gorge area who was having them dump chemicals down a storm drain.
The storm drains in the area lead to Cecelia Creek, and subsequently, the Gorge Waterway.
Following this anonymous post gaining a lot of attention, residents in the area noticed the water in Cecelia Creek was an opaque white in colour, when normally it runs clear.
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The City of Victoria launched an investigation into what could be being dumped into the storm drains and who might be responsible.
They also distributed a letter to residents reminding them of what is prohibited from being dumped in City storm drains and have been working with the CRD and Island Health to test the waters to ensure they are safe.
On Friday, July 19th, a City of Victoria spokesperson informed Victoria Buzz that preliminary water sampling tests have come back.
According to Island Health there is no need to close any beach areas, including Banfield Park’s dock.
Additionally, the CRD and Island Health will be receiving test results from further analysis in the coming days.
The City’s investigation into who was causing the spills is ongoing and they believe there have been no new spills since Tuesday, July 16th.
