Complaints are pouring in about the disgusting state of water quality at a public park fronting Hamilton Harbour at the western edge of Lake Ontario.

Visitors to the (usually) scenic Bayfront Park in Hamilton have been met by an overwhelming odour and a thick layer of sludge floating on the surface of the water.

Earlier this summer, Hamilton Public Health Services shut down the beach at Pier 4 Park for the fourth summer in a row after confirming the presence of toxin-producing blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), and it's not the only waterfront park with putrid-smelling water in that city.

The nearby Bayfront Park, just a few hundred feet west of Pier 4 Park, is facing similar water quality issues, and access to its beach has been similarly restricted since 2016.

A video shared to the Hamilton Neighbourhood Watch Facebook group pans across an absolutely vile-looking stretch of water, coated in that same toxic blue-green algae, and giving off an absolutely vomit-worthy stench.

Visitors to an Ontario park are horrified by smelly, sludge-covered water
📹Hamilton Neighbourhood Watch pic.twitter.com/rxwHFPHyUr

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 14, 2024

One user replied that they had reached out to the City of Hamilton, a local news station, and other Harbour partners, saying of the situation, "Something needs to be done. The smell is sickening."

Another commenter who visited the park this past weekend wrote, "God it stank by the entrance of the bayfront."

One person stated that they reported the offensive smell to the Ministry of Environment, and claimed that the City is testing the water and "should" be removing the algae mat plaguing the park, adding, "Water still won't be free of blue algae though, just won't stink like death."

Many other commenters attempted to place blame on an encampment set up in the park, despite the plainly obvious layer of algae coating the water.

An Ontario beach keeps shutting down every summer due to toxic algae. Have you ever swam here? https://t.co/oYyhlmFpjp pic.twitter.com/9uIn4oTHxm

— blogTO (@blogTO) July 9, 2024

As of August 14, only one of Hamilton's public beaches on Lake Ontario is open to swimmers, with the remaining three either closed in the case of Pier 4 or deemed unsafe for swimming, as with Van Wagner's and Confederation Park beaches.