Most popular swim spots okay says NRC

 

The vast majority of Northland's most popular coastal swimming spots – and most of their freshwater equivalents – are suitable for swimming all or most of the time, regional council data shows.

Council Environmental Monitoring Manager Jean-Charles Perquin says hundreds of water samples were collected from 44 popular coastal and 13 freshwater summer swimming sites between late November last year and late February.

The annual water testing looks for bacteria used to gauge the risks of contracting gastrointestinal and other infections while using popular beaches, rivers and lakes for swimming, water sports and other forms of recreation.

Mr Perquin says 99.1 percent (606 out of 611) samples at coastal sites and 89.4 percent (161 out of 180) samples at freshwater sites over summer met national 'guideline values', meaning they were considered suitable for swimming.

A report to the last meeting of the council's Environmental Management Committee says that meant water quality was suitable for swimming "at the vast majority of coastal and most of the freshwater swimming sites, either all or most of the time".

The Kerikeri River (at the Stone Store) and the Hatea River (at Whangarei Falls) had the least suitable swimming water quality with 69 percent and 79 percent of samples within guideline values respectively.

Generally where results had exceeded guideline values, many had occurred after moderate to heavy rain and had been attributed to run-off from land contaminated by faecal material, typically either from wild birds or stock.

Results of each sampling run had been posted on the national environmental reporting website Land Air Water Aotearoa, www.lawa.org.nz.

Local swim spots assessed include Mangawhai Beach, Picnic Bay, Langs Beach, Waipu Cove, and Ruakaka Beach.

Weekly Northland results had also been forwarded to the Whangarei, Far North and Kaipara District Councils, the Northland District Health Board (DHB) and other interested parties, with public warnings not to swim, fish or gather shellfish and putting up permanent warning signs at the worst sites.

Mr Perquin says while far fewer people would obviously be swimming at this time of year, simple tips to judge water quality include not swimming for two or three days after heavy rain or if there are warning signs indicating unsafe water.

"You shouldn't swim if the water looks dirty or murky, smells or has scum on its surface and also look out for or consider any potential sources of contamination, both nearby and upstream."