Work underway to improve Parlee Beach water quality

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A multimillion-dollar project to improve the water quality of Parlee Beach has now gotten underway.

Construction of a water runoff collection and purification system started back in February, according to the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.

Once that work is complete, the dredging of the tidal inlet and creek near Parlee Beach is expected to follow, department spokesperson Morgan Bell said in an email.

The dredging project is designed to open up the mouth of the inlet to allow for tidal waters and stormwater runoff to properly drain. This is expected to improve beach water quality and prevent flooding of nearby parking lots.

The New Brunswick government has set aside $3 million in the 2024-25 budget – on top of another $1.4 million last year – to tackle the project, according to Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace.

“There is a lot of work being done to improve the water quality at Parlee Beach,” she said at a recent legislative committee meeting under questioning from Pointe-du-Chêne-area MLA Jacques LeBlanc.

Last year, Parlee Beach was the site of 21 no-swim advisories, Scott-Wallace said, but she emphasized her department is prioritizing the dredging project to “provide tourists and New Brunswickers with the assurances that any future water quality issues aren’t originating from the provincial park.”

LeBlanc asked Scott-Wallace how her department would be communicating the ongoing work to stakeholders, including municipalities, area residents and tourists.

“We’ve had consultations with the community to ensure everyone was aware of what we have planned for Parlee Beach,” Scott-Wallace said, adding signage, social media and the park manager would be getting the word out during the tourism season.

More than 26,000 Parlee Beach day permits were sold in 2022, up from a little more than 24,000 in 2021, according to the tourism department’s latest annual report from 2022-23.

Even with the no-swim advisories, the department noted that “years” of monitoring shows the beach’s water quality is “good and quickly returns to normal” after advisories are issued.

Ongoing work at the site will be briefly halted for the summer months to allow for visitors, Scott-Wallace said, but dredging will start in the fall after the bird migration season and be completed by the end of October.

A 2022 environmental impact assessment was completed for the project by Englobe Corp. on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. The 500-page report outlines the mitigation measures that will be followed to protect the wetlands surrounding the inlet, channel and lagoons.

Last December, New Brunswick’s environment minister issued a certificate of determination with conditions to allow for the project to proceed.

Those conditions include ensuring all work is compliant with migratory bird and species at risk laws, submitting a wetland monitoring plan and subsequent reports, and ensuring the stormwater treatment system is installed before dredging work starts for the project.

– With files from Brunswick News archives