Bird poop plagues river mouths

Wild ducks, pukeko and seagulls continue to befoul river mouths near bathing spots in New Plymouth, causing high levels of E.coli bacteria, a Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) report on bathing water quality shows.

While 85 per cent of samples taken from 16 recreational rivers and streams in the region met national bathing guidelines, the TRC planning and policy committee heard yesterday that two sites were responsible for most of the breaches.

Te Henui Stream mouth, near Autere/East End Beach, and the lower Waiwhakaiho River, opposite Lake Rotomanu recorded consistently high counts of E.coli in samples.

A third site, Waimoku Stream at Oakura Beach, where samples are taken every three years, also showed high levels of the bacteria. All three sites showed an increasing trend of pollution from birds over 24 years of sample testing, the committee heard.

Committee iwi representative Louise Tester called for the placing of warning signs at the worst affected areas to discourage the public from feeding the birds.

TRC environmental quality director Gary Bedford said there were already signs at Lake Rotomanu not to feed ducks, and it was hoped seagull populations would decrease following the closure of the New Plymouth landfill near the Waiwhakaiho River.

The top sites for water quality for the 2019-2020 sample period were Patea River boat ramp, Urenui River estuary, Lake Ratapiko, Lake Opunake boat ramp, middle Waiwhakaiho River, at Merrilands Domain, and Manganui River, Everett Park.

Fitzroy, Opunake and Oakura were rated the region’s cleanest swimming beaches.

The completion of the riparian planting scheme alongside river banks, and diverting treated dairy effluent to land, instead of streams, will further reduce bacteria counts in waterways, the report said.