Toronto beaches are some of the best places to enjoy the short-but-sweet summer season in the city.

There's nothing quite like cooling off with a dip in the lake, and with beautiful weather forecasted for the upcoming weekend, 8 of Toronto's most popular beaches currently have water that's safe to swim in.

Marie Curtis Park Beach East, the four beaches on the Toronto Islands, Cherry Beach, Woodbine Beaches, and Bluffer's Beach Park all met beach water quality standards based on yesterday's test results.

These results are posted daily, which you can find on the City of Toronto's website.

While the majority of the city's beaches are safe to swim at, always make sure to check the water quality first, as two popular spots have been deemed temporarily unsafe for swimming.

Warmer temperatures, coupled with bouts of rainfall over the past week, have aggravated levels of pollution and bacteria, unfortunately leading to sewage overflows in Toronto spilling out and contaminating portions of Lake Ontario.

The sewer overflows from
City of Toronto contaminated Lake Ontario this week. Check your water quality at https://t.co/A2Gy0agKWy @swimguide before going in water or letting dog in water this weekend. @swimdrinkfish And let’s force #greatlakes cities to invest in solutions. pic.twitter.com/pXVZDgk95Y

— Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (@LOWaterkeeper) July 15, 2023

Two of Toronto's major beaches, Sunnyside Beach and Kew Balmy Beach have been affected, testing with E.coli counts that exceed the City's safe water standards and are currently deemed unsafe for swimming.

While Kew Balmy does have Blue Flag Beach status, meaning it typically meets environmental, safety, and cleanliness standards, its E. coli count sampled on July 17 measured 120 per 100ml water sampled, which is above the City's safe water quality threshold of 100 per 100ml.

Toronto tests 10 popular city beaches daily, posting the water quality results 24 hours later so things can change on a daily basis. It's likely that both Sunnyside and Kew Balmy will return to safe levels shortly, as E. coli levels are usually elevated following rainfall and storms.

For smaller beaches not listed on the City of Toronto website or ones outside of the city, you can still check their water quality on Swim Drink Fish.