Watch: Toronto's trash-filled basin gets a dramatic lakeside revival

Toronto's Peter Street Basin was filthy and unused. The large, concrete basin sits between condominiums and stores across from the city's Lake Ontario waterfront. It was filled with lake water but clogged with the city's detritus.

University of Toronto professor Steve Mann and his students saw potential in the urban lagoon. They spent three years cleaning out the mess and have turned it into a spot where Mann is happy to take the occasional dip.

Mann told the BBC that he'd measured the E.coli levels in the basin and said that his samples are low enough for a safe swim.

In a statement to the BBC, however, Toronto Public Health said Peter Street Basin was not a designated swimming area, and that "without regular testing, TPH cannot assess the water's safety and therefore does not recommend swimming in this area."

Video by Alex Foster