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BeachCheck is a small, free tool for swimmers, paddlers and SUP riders — real-time water quality, water temperature, waves and wind for Toronto's supervised beaches, at a glance instead of five tabs.
Toronto's beaches are genuinely beautiful and still underused for how good they are. The hope is that knowing conditions at a glance makes it a little easier to actually get out and enjoy — and look after — them.
The city samples each beach every morning during the season, and lab results take about a day — so the posted reading always trails the lake by roughly a day. It's the best official signal there is, just not a live one.
Heavy rain washes runoff into the lake and can push bacteria up faster than the tests can show — the usual rule of thumb is to skip swimming for 48 hours after a big storm. BeachCheck flags caution when a reading is climbing toward the limit or when there's been heavy rain since the last sample, and shows the day-over-day trend (↑/↓) right on the card.
Is it safe to swim today?Check the water quality card at the top — "swim" means the beach's latest E. coli sample is comfortably under Toronto's posting limit, "caution" means it's getting close (or there's been heavy rain since the sample was taken), and "no swim" means it's at or above it. It refreshes daily during the June–September sampling season.
Which beaches does BeachCheck cover?All of Toronto's supervised swimming beaches, from Marie Curtis Park in the west to Rouge Beach in the east — pick one from the dropdown up top.
Is this official?No — it's an independent tool built on the City of Toronto's own open data. Always check for posted lifeguard flags too.
Not official safety advice — always use your judgment and check for posted lifeguard flags. View source on GitHub.