Many local residents will be flocking to the beach this long weekend. 
The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit tests the water for e-coli levels at the municipality’s nine beaches three times over the summer, with at least five water samples collected at each beach and sent to an Ontario Public Health Laboratory for analysis.
The last round of testing was done in mid-July but officials say the basic rule of thumb is that as long as it didn’t rain heavily that day or the day before and wasn’t terribly windy and wavy, the water should be safe for swimming.
The latest test results are posted on signs at the beach and on the municipality’s website.