A decade after cleanup, Halifax residents reluctant to swim in once-polluted harbour

Nova Scotia may be known as Canada’s Ocean Playground, but the moniker hardly applies to Halifax harbour.

Almost 10 years after the city spent $333 million to clean up its massive, infamously polluted harbour, the two public beaches near its downtown remain strangely quiet — even on hot, sunny days.

Despite monitoring that shows the crystal-clear saltwater is fit to swim in, the city decided this year not to post lifeguards at the Black Rock and Dingle beaches, saying there were so few swimmers last year it didn’t make sense to hire rescuers.

“There hasn’t been an appetite for swimming,” city spokesperson Nick Ritcey says.

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