Latest news with #TobiNussbaum
Ottawa Citizen
12-06-2025
- General
- Ottawa Citizen
Cannonballs at Dow's Lake: Return of swimming marked at new recreational dock
Article content Swimming at Dow's Lake is now permitted in the first time in more than a century. Article content The inauguration of the Dow's Lake recreational dock began with a splash on Thursday as politicians, National Capital Commission representatives and community members cannonballed into the water. Article content Article content It was warm, warmer than the wind that left swimmers shivering after their collective dip. Article content Article content Tobi Nussbaum, CEO for the NCC, was one of those swimmers. He told the Ottawa Citizen, while wearing a drenched watersuit, that he wanted swimming in the capital in the summer to be 'what skating is in the winter.' Article content Article content For many Ottawans, swimming in Dow's Lake is unthinkable. Those feelings were played upon when Nussbaum joked about the parallels to Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, who jumped into the River Seine before the 2024 Olympic Games. Article content But Laura Reinsborough, Riverkeeper and CEO at Ottawa Riverkeeper, said Dow's Lake and the Siene were incomparable. The Ottawa Riverkeeper is responsible for testing water quality in Dow's Lake for the NCC, and for the entirety of this year it has passed with 'flying colours,' she said. Article content In Ontario and Québec, levels of E. coli, a bacteria of concern that can cause infection and gastrointensional illnesses, must be under 200 per 100 millilitres of water to be considered safe for swimming, whereas in Europe the standard is 900. Article content Article content Article content 'This is excellent, excellent water quality,' Reinsborough said. 'And even after a significant rain event, when we'd expect in an urban area that conditions would deteriorate, Dow's Lake is showing excellent water quality.' Article content The Ottawa Riverkeeper will continue to monitor Dow's Lake water quality, five days a week. Article content It has been a decades-long wait for Dow's Lake's conditions to improve to meet swimming standards. Throughout that time there have been sweeping changes to area waterways. Article content Jennifer Halsall, the project lead on the Dow's Lake dock project and a real-estate advisor for the NCC, said tests for contaminants in the waterways were coming back consistently good, to a point that contaminants were either 'not picking up' or were 'less than half of human health thresholds.' Article content Dow's Lake's history has also changed over the years and it is 'very different from the Dow's Lake we would have seen 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago,' Halsall said. For example, what is now Commissioner's Park was once a lumber yard and the shoreline wrapping around the lake didn't exist until 1958.
CTV News
01-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
NCC unveils new Westboro Beach area now open to the public
The NCC unveiled the new Westboro Beach pavilion on Sunday, June 1, 2025 (Josh Marano/CTV News Ottawa) The National Capital Commission has reopened Westboro Beach as part of a multi-million-dollar redevelopment project. On Sunday, the NCC officially unveiled its new year-round pavilion, restaurant and café. The new Westboro Beach area also features a scenic lookout of the Ottawa River, picnic and volleyball spaces, accessible washrooms/change rooms and outdoor showers. The pavilion and café are now open to the public but certain amenities remain closed. Ottawa pizzeria The Grand with a location in the ByWard Market is slated to open once final construction work finishes. Westboro Beach The new outdoor area of Westboro Beach, featuring picnic and volleyball spaces. (Josh Marano/CTV News Ottawa) 'The NCC's design excellence and innovation are on full display at Westboro Beach, where nature, community and history come together,' said NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum in a news release. 'With the community's engagement and support, we were able to deliver a project that enhances the shoreline in the west end, and is emblematic of our commitment to creating sustainable, accessible and vibrant public spaces in the National Capital Region.' The beach closed to the public in 2022 but was open to unsupervised swimming as construction took place. The project is projected to cost $21 million, including a $13 million contribution from the City of Ottawa, the NCC says. The redevelopment was part of a 2015 agreement between the NCC and the city for the western extension of the LRT Confederation Line and the creation of a new waterfront park.
