The public beaches and waterways around the West Island are fine and dandy, according to recent bacterial test results released by the provincial government.

Swimmers should note the beaches at Cap. St. Jacques and Bois de l'Île Bizard (Lake of Two Mountains), have been rated A for excellent. The beach at Oka Park also has an A rating.

Meanwhile, sailors, windsurfers and lake and river users will be glad to hear the water quality of Lake St. Louis and Rivière des Prairies is generally rated from good to excellent. However, there are several test spots which rate the water as poor, one step above polluted. One trouble spot on the lake is at the eastern tip of Pine Beach Park in Dorval (recorded on a dry day in early July), with 590 parts of fecal coliform per 100 millimetres. Another poor quality area is Godin Park in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Tests taken near Coursol Street in Pierrefonds and Beaulieu Street also rated the river water poor. Three nearby test areas in Pierrefonds (Rive Boisée Park and Bocage Street) and Île Bizard (Emile Street) were also rated poor.

Only one test area on the eastern end of the Island of Montreal was rated polluted.

Guy Deschamps, head of Réseau de suivi du milieu aquatique (RSMA), says his group has been reporting weekly bacteria counts from 120 evaluation sites located around the island for a decade, posting the results online.

"There's been quite an improvement in the water quality from a few years ago," he said last Friday. "If you look at the recent results, except for two sites (Pine Beach and Godin Park), all of Lake St. Louis is 'swimmable.'"

Despite water quality being OK for swimming, there are no designated public swimming locations on Lake St. Louis.

As for why a few sites are rated poor while dozens of others nearby are rated good or excellent, Deschamps said there are occasions when streams, coming as far as Highway 40, may seep contaminants into Lake St. Louis. He also said runoff from big rain storms can also lead to higher levels of bacteria in the lake.

Meanwhile, Deschamps said a $500,000 study was launched this year to determine why some storm sewers around the island draining into the lake or rivers seem to be more polluted than others. With about 500 storm sewers, he said the study will take about three years to complete.

For more information, check www.rsma.qc.ca and click on the island map.