Lake Ontario Waterkeeper

About us

Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is the longest running initiative of Swim Drink Fish. Waterkeeper promotes water literacy, informed-decision making and acts as a model for protecting swimmable, drinkable, fishable water in Canada and beyond.

Swim Drink Fish is a Canadian charity working for a day when every person can safely touch the water, when the water is pure enough to drink, and when the lake is clean and wild enough that you could toss in a line anywhere and pull out a fish. 

In May 2000, seven people died after drinking tap water in Walkerton, a southwestern Ontario town. Lawyer Mark Mattson and researcher Krystyn Tully emerged from the ensuing Inquiry determined that no person should ever become ill after swimming, drinking, or fishing from public waters.

With the support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his global Waterkeeper network, Mattson and Tully created an independent charity dedicated to a swimmable, drinkable, fishable Lake Ontario.