It’s now up to you to decide if local beaches are safe for swimming.

Public Health used to test the bacteria levels at nine beaches operated by the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) every summer.

But officials say it takes 48 hours to get those samples back and by that time they’re already outdated.

That also means water warnings at popular swimming spots are useless.

“It’s not a real-time kind of result based on the conditions that are present,” says Aldo Franco, manager of health protection and investigation for the Region of Waterloo.

So warnings will no longer be issued by Public Health and the GRCA.

They say swimmers will now be responsible for checking the water for themselves. If there’s been a heavy rainfall, cloudy water, or a lot of bird droppings nearby, swimmers should think twice before entering the water.

But not everyone is on board with these new changes.

The worry is that the lack of signs will provide a false sense of security for those on the beach.

“People don’t give it a lot of thought,” says Waterloo Region Councilor Geoff Lorenz. “If you can’t swim here, surely they would be telling us, putting up a sign. It’s not good enough.”

Swimmers say even outdated information is better than nothing.

Public Health argues that it’s the best option until they can get reliable real-time testing.

With reporting by Leena Latafat