No-swim alerts at Auckland beaches

People are being warned to stay away from 12 Auckland beaches this summer as they are contaminated by human and animal faeces.

Eight beaches in West Auckland, two in central Auckland, a beach on the North Shore, and one on Waiheke Island have all been issued a high public risk alert from Auckland Council’s water quality monitoring system Safeswim.

Safeswim programme manager Nick Vigar said contamination at the beaches included human faeces from properties with no or illegally-connected wastewater drains and leaking septic tanks.

‘‘Do not swim at these locations,’’ Vigar said. ‘‘There are Safeswim long-term water quality warnings in place, and a high risk of illness if you swim at any of these 12 sites.’’

Vigar said other sources of contamination could be from animal droppings, heavy metals and chemical wash-off from streets into the stormwater network when it rained.

Wood Bay, Laingholm Beach, Fosters Bay, Titirangi Beach, Green Bay, Piha Lagoon South, Piha Lagoon North, Te Henga (Bethells) Lagoon, Cox’s Bay, Little Oneroa Lagoon, Meola Reef and Wairau Outlet were all on the list.

Piha, Bethells and Oneroa beaches especially had high human waste contamination levels from properties with no wastewater networks and leaking septic tanks, he said.

Safeswim, launched in 2017 and designed to encourage swimmers to check the waters first before swimming, provides a real-time forecast covering more than 80 beaches and freshwater locations around Auckland.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said Auckland Council had invested hundreds of millions of dollars to address the region’s dirty waters through a new targeted rate.

It was expected to clean up Auckland’s beaches in 10 years rather than the 30 years it was originally going to take.

West Auckland was where most of the funds would be allocated, Goff said.

‘‘Ageing infrastructure and historical under-investment in our stormwater infrastructure which did not separate the waste and stormwater systems means that when it rains, our system can’t cope and we get overflows into out harbours,’’ the mayor said.

Despite Auckland’s 12 blacklisted swimming sites, there were still 86 beaches, outlets and lagoons that were safe to swim in across the region.

According to Safeswim, most of the safe beaches were on the North Shore and south Auckland.

West Auckland only had 11 safe swimming spots.

Vigar advised the public to check the Swimsafe website first before making plans to go to the beach for a swim, and also to check the site for any safety hazards in the area.