Automating Toronto’s Beach Water Quality with Shortcuts
This summer I wanted a faster way to check if it’s safe to swim at Toronto’s beaches. The city publishes daily water quality results through their open data portal, but digging through JSON feeds on a phone isn’t exactly convenient. So, I built a Shortcut that automates the whole process: it checks for the latest update, pulls the results, and displays a clean, color-coded report in Safari.
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Checking for Fresh Data
The first thing my Shortcut does is make sure I’m not working with stale results. I format the current date, subtract one day (since advisories usually trail by a day), and call the city’s last_update API. From there, I grab the lastUpdate field and confirm whether it matches the date I expect.
If no data is available, the Shortcut stops and shows me an alert: “No recent results found.” That way, I’m not wasting time on old advisories.
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Fetching the Results
Once I know the data is current, I build a URL against the beach_results API. I pass both a startDate and endDate based on the formatted date, and I also define a list of beach IDs. Right now I have two beaches set up—IDs 8 and 9—but I can easily add more later.
A Repeat loop runs through each beach ID, fetching its data individually and parsing the results. This keeps the Shortcut flexible if I want to expand it.
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Formatting the Data
This is the part I had the most fun with. The Shortcut parses out the CollectionDate, statusFlag, eColi count, and any advisory notes. To make the results clear at a glance, I map:
- SAFE → green
- UNSAFE → red
- Anything else → black
I then build an HTML card for each beach, using large black headers for the beach name, medium-sized text for the collection date, and a color-coded status flag for the water quality. Everything is wrapped in elements with inline font sizes so the final report looks neat and easy to read.
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Displaying the Report
After the loop finishes, the Shortcut combines all of the HTML snippets into one page. It converts that text into rich content and opens it in a Safari web view. What I end up with is a simple dashboard that shows the latest conditions for each beach I care about.
If the data feed has no values for that day, I just get a quick alert instead of a blank page.
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Why I Built It
For me, this Shortcut strikes the right balance between utility and presentation. It’s not just dumping JSON—it’s validating freshness, parsing results for multiple beaches, and presenting them in a way that’s useful at a glance.
Now, instead of digging through government websites or spreadsheets, I just run the Shortcut and instantly see whether it’s safe to swim. It’s become part of my summer routine, and I love how it turns raw open data into something practical and personal.
Toronto Beaches Water Quality
