Two new swimming docks opened in July on both shores of the Ottawa River, giving visitors additional places to cool off in the water.<\/p>\n
One is located on the shoreline at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, while the other is directly across the river at East Wharf, near the Rideau Canal locks at the foot of Major\u2019s Hill Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had very strong and positive public feedback for River House, for Westboro Beach, for Dow\u2019s Lake,\u201d said Jen Halsall, the National Capital Commission\u2019s chief planner on the project. The popularity of those attractions and the hotter summers Ottawa has been experiencing in recent years made more swimming spots a priority for the federal agency, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really spurs us further in our planning,\u201d she said, \u201cand in our stewardship to make our waterways even more accessible and even more interesting year-round for people to enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We had very strong and positive public feedback for River House, for Westboro Beach, for Dow\u2019s Lake. That really spurs us further in our planning and in our stewardship to make our waterways even more accessible and even more interesting year-round for people to enjoy.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jen Halsall, swimming site planner, National Capital Commission<\/p>\n
The launch of new swimming docks in the heart of the national capital follows the opening of a swimming area at the NCC River House in Rockcliffe Park and at Dow\u2019s Lake in 2023 and 2025, respectively. The NCC also completed a refurbishment and reopening of Westboro Beach last year, signalling the commission\u2019s heightened interest in animating Ottawa\u2019s waterways.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/halsall-head-shoulders.jpg\")
Jen Halsall, chief planner for the NCC\u2019s new Ottawa River swimming docks on the north shore at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau and the south shore at East Wharf, said the popularity of previous swim projects and the need for cooling relief from hot weather were key motivations for the two additional sites. [Photo \u00a9 Justin S. Campbell]<\/p>\n
The Dow\u2019s Lake dock won a Canadian Brownfield Development Award for reclaiming the section of the Rideau Canal as a public swimming site after it was prohibited for a century for health and safety reasons.<\/p>\n
While the positive public response to the new swimming docks was a key driver of this year\u2019s openings, Halsall said the NCC\u2019s focus on creating opportunities for people to cool off in the summer is also a response to Ottawa\u2019s changing climate.<\/p>\n
Halsall noted that no two spots on the Ottawa River are the same when it comes to strength of the current, potential underwater hazards, depth and water quality. That meant the new swimming locations at East Wharf and the history museum required extensive testing and preparation before they were deemed safe sites for swimming.<\/p>\n
In addition, these sites fit into high-profile landscape studded with national landmarks, tourist attractions and public services, making the swimming docks accessible and well integrated with what\u2019s around them. Halsall characterized the region\u2019s shorelines as a \u201cblue ribbon\u201d of attractive destinations connected by the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see people, when they swim at East Wharf, enjoying the Rideau Canal; we want to see people visiting the National Gallery, or walking through Major\u2019s Hill Park, or getting a treat at one of our bistros along the way, or circling the walk behind Parliament Hill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The docks are visually similar to those at Dow\u2019s Lake and River House, and cater to experienced swimmers since they are unsupervised. Halsall said she hopes public interest in the docks\u2019 installation translates into plenty of swimmers in the water throughout the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that both of these sites do have a fair amount of foot traffic already,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know the curiosity is there, and we\u2019ll just see how it goes this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two new swimming docks opened in July on both shores of the Ottawa River, giving visitors additional places…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,58942,20739,211863,103480,103481],"class_list":["post-841611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ncc","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-river","tag-ottcity","tag-ottnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}