LastLetters:
New App Helps British Columbians Find T e Beach: For beach-goers, swimmers, and surfers
in BC, fi nding and enjoying a perfect stretch of sand and water just got easier. A new “Swim Guide” app—free from Vancouver conservation NGO Fraser Riverkeeper and Toronto-based Lake Ontario Waterkeeper — helps users locate the closest, cleanest beaches in their area. Along with GPS-based directions to
local swimming holes and surf spots, users get a chance to view beach photos and descriptions. Most importantly, they fi nd out if the water there is safe for themselves and their families to swim. T e guide is available from Apple’s App Store, Google Play, or
www.theswimguide.org. Swim Guide is revolutionary, leading
people to great beaches they might never have known about, and having the latest water-quality updates allows families and beach-goers to swim and surf safely. It does what we always hoped technology would do— connect us to our local places, while helping protect them. T e protection part has to do with
new functionality released in version 2.0 of the Swim Guide. Via a new dead-fi sh icon, users can report on pollution and water-quality issues. Smart-phone users can even send photos of their pollution concerns. All reports are catalogued by Fraser Riverkeeper and sent to water- quality monitoring bodies like Vancouver Coastal Health and Vancouver Island Health Authority. “Every year, millions of people get
sick from coming into contact with polluted water at their local beaches,” said Pete Nichols, Western Director for the Waterkeeper Alliance. “T e Swim Guide provides a free, easy-to-use way for beach goers to fi nd a beach where their families can swim and enjoy the beach safely.” When users see a green dot next to
their beach, it means recent data indicates the beach is free from harmful bacteria; red means don’t swim there; and grey means there is no recent data. We hope that this app will encourage water-testing authorities to pick up, or start, water testing in those waters and beaches with no data. We think people will be surprised and maybe shocked when they see that some very popular beaches are not monitored. T e innovative app originated with a
team from the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper chapter, which set out to determine if it
14 RVT 148 • JULY/AUGUST 2012
was safe to swim in Lake Ontario. Seven years later, aſt er beta testing by Fraser Riverkeeper in 2011 and input from more than 100 diff erent beach monitoring sources—covering over 1,300 beaches a day— North Americans from the St. Lawrence River to Miami to Los Angeles can now check the status and cleanliness of their local beaches in real time. Swim Guide is spreading rapidly,
covering beaches in BC, Alberta, the Great Lakes, Florida, Alabama and California. Swim Guide will continue to expand until it covers beaches in every major beach community in North America. Lauren Brown Hornor, Esq.
Lauren@fraserriverkeeper.ca
RV industry looking for good technicians: Anyone considering getting into the
recreational vehicle service industry might want to hit the books sooner rather than later. Following a few slow years, the industry
is gearing up for larger sales and with that comes a greater need for people trained in servicing those motorhomes and fi ſt h wheelers. “Whether in BC or across the country,
industry is telling us that they are starting to experience diffi culty fi nding technicians,” said Eleonore Hamm, president of the RV Dealers Association of Canada. “We need to start recruiting again.” To help fi ll the need, registration is now
underway at Okanagan College for entry level training in the RV Technician Service program with information sessions taking place at all four campuses throughout the College region. College RV Technician instructor
Jim Ingram said he’s posting a growing number of positions on the program’s job board. “We have approximately eight listings on the board at this time, with jobs in Victoria, the Okanagan, and into the Prairies,” Ingram said. “T ings are defi nitely moving.” Former Okanagan College student Rick
McKague isn’t surprised. “T e training was excellent, and the
employment opportunities are good,” said McKague, who graduated this spring from the Recreation Vehicle Technician program with his Level 3 and is now with Kelowna RVs where he has worked in both service and parts. “One of the guys I graduated with was
actually headhunted and took a job in Saskatchewan,” he said. “T ere’s a real boom going on there now and they need RV techs real bad.”
Hamm admits the economy has been
hard on the industry for the last few years, but that’s now changed. “We’re forecasting a two percent growth
in the industry in the upcoming year, and while employee counts have been down, it looks now like that is turning around.” T e turn-around is also being felt in the
US, where the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association says it expects a 39 per cent increase in RV shipments from the 2009 recession low. T e RV Technician Service program
begins with a comprehensive 28-week program that takes students with little or no previous experience and gives them the skills to seek employment as an apprentice RV Service Technician. T is Red Seal trade covers a variety of skills including electrical, plumbing, carpentry, joinery, refrigeration, gas fi tting, and even appliance repair. Many women experience success as RV
Technicians, which makes the program especially attractive for those eligible for Okanagan College’s Women in Trades Training Initiative. Registration for the program is also
available online at www.okanagan.
bc.ca/apply and follow the link to Trades Foundation. For more info contact Okanagan
College, at 250-762-5445, ext. 4275. For info on the Women in Trades
programs, contact Erin Kavanagh at 250- 575-7130.
T anks Jubilee RV Centre: One week ago we were on our way to
BC’s Heffl ey Lake for a fi shing trip. But before we arrived in Kamloops, one of the hinges on the freezer door of our camper’s fridge broke. We have seen the ad for Jubilee RV
Centre in Kamloops in the your magazine Sheila, so our fi rst thought was to go there to see if we could have it repaired. When we arrived on the Saturday around noon there happened to be a service technician available who could take a look at our fridge right away, and fortunately Jubilee RV had the needed part in stock. T e technician was able to install the new hinge immediately and we were soon on our way to Heffl ey Lake. Everyone at Jubilee RV was very helpful
and we just wanted to share such a good experience.
Mike & Gladys Jarvie Richmond, BC
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