by Syed Mowla
The temperature is expected to drop to as low as -4 with cloudy skies throughout this weekend. So you’d likely not expect to find people swimming in Lake Ontario, but that is exactly what the folks at Swim OP are doing.
In case you think this is a small group of zealots, Swim OP has over two thousand members. They swim in Lake Ontario in Humber Bay all through the year, regardless of the weather.
Research and advocacy for welcome and safe swimming at Ontario Place are some of the reasons why they do it. HTO Beach was cleaned up with the help of underwater virtual reality (VR) and beach mapping to increase situational awareness and safety.
As a professional engineer (p.Eng) licensed to practice in Ontario, Steve Mann believes he has a moral and ethical duty to put the safety of the public above his personal interests.
Mann recently learned that four safety sewage pipes that currently transport combined sewer outfall (CSO) from the mainland at the shore of Lake Ontario, in downtown Toronto, and out in the open water of Lake Ontario as far as Ontario Place West Island are to be removed. The work is scheduled to start shortly. With public safety as one of the top engineering priorities, competent engineers created the four sewage pipe safety extensions that are currently in place. They also built and inspected them in accordance with strict design guidelines. Allowing a business agreement with a foreign national enterprise to dictate water safety policies or initiatives in the greatest city on the Great Lakes, Toronto, where responsible water stewardship is expected worldwide, is detrimental and unethical.
If you want to involve yourself in the cause of safe and welcoming swimming at Ontario Place and try something different for size this Winter, you can find Swim OP groups on Facebook and even sign up from their newsletter or visit their website swimop.com. Find yourself swimming in the ice cold and participating in fireside chats this Saturday 30th at Trillium Park 2pm and the first day of December at Humber Bay West Cold water.
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