Lake Ontario, ON

Hello my name is Zanita and I’m from Toronto, Ontario and my waterbody is Lake Ontario.

As a kid growing up in Toronto I swam a lot at the Woodbine Beach. Most summers it was great but others I could remember it being closed and we couldn’t swim, and that was a huge concern.

When I was about twelve years old we were taking a windsurfing lesson on the lake and they actually had to shut down the beach because of all the dead fish floating in the water. We were all told to stay clear of the water. Which was caused by an apparent sewage overflow that leaked into the lake.

It's a very scary moment to come to grips with, when you realise you’re swimming in sewage. It was a sobering thought for enough of us to stay clear of the water.