A report on last summer’s water quality monitoring for recreation was considered by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Environment and Services Committee on 8 October.
Information on the water quality at popular swimming spots in Hawke’s Bay is provided to the public through summer.
A report on last summer’s water quality monitoring for recreation was considered by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Environment and Services Committee on 8 October.
In conjunction with the Public Health Unit of Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and local councils, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council carries out weekly monitoring of beaches and rivers which are popular for swimming, boating and any recreation that involves contact with the water.
There are 36 popular swimming sites that are manually sampled by HBRC science staff early each week. The samples are assessed against the National Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality.
All results are posted on this website here under Environmental Data, and any beaches where care is needed are notified through the 0800 B4USwim line before each weekend.
The monitoring report from last summer (2013/14) shows that marine sites continue to have very high water quality for recreation most of the time, while freshwater sites had more variable water quality and are more influenced by rainfall and river flows.
Lagoons have shallow, slow moving and therefore warmer water, and can have high levels of faecal bacteria. Some lagoons can have high numbers of bird life which add to the contamination. That being said last year water quality improved at Kairakau Lagoon, Puhokio Stream, Te Mahia Estuary and Waipatiki Lagoon.
Declines in recreation water quality were observed at Porangahau Estuary, Tukituki at the State Highway 2 bridge at Waipukurau, and Waipuka Stream at Ocean Beach.
The Tukituki site should benefit in coming years as the Tukituki Plan Change 6 is rolled out. This will require stock exclusion from waterways as stock are a significant contributor to faecal contamination if they have free access to rivers and streams.
A case study is included in the report about the faecal source tracking undertaken at Waipuka Stream at Ocean Beach. During 2013/14, 30% of the samples taken exceeded National Guidelines For Recreational Water Quality. The tracking highlighted that birds were a significant source of faecal contaminants, and a site visit by HBRC staff confirmed this when they found a large gaggle of geese resident upstream of the site.
HBRC’s water quality scientists have recommended to Council that follow-up investigation through faecal source tracking be done on a number of waterways to determine what kind of animal the bacteria comes from. The tracking will be done this summer at Mahia Peninsula sites, Clive River, Maraetotara Lagoon, Tukituki River at Black Bridge and State Highway 2, Porangahau Estuary and Puhokio Lagoon.