Yes, Bay is OK for swimming
An official website which shows two of three sites at Caroline Bay are unsafe for swimming has been declared ‘‘out of date’’ by Environment Canterbury.
The Land Air Water Aotearoa (Lawa) website reveals the Bay at the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club and the western end of the Bay are ‘‘unsuitable for swimming’’ while caution is advised in the middle of the beach.
ECan principal surface water scientist Shirley Hayward said ‘‘the swimming status currently shown on Lawa is based on 2015-19 data and has not yet been updated to include 2019-20 data’’.
‘‘The update will happen before the start of the swimming season (around November),’’ Hayward said.
‘‘Last summer all three sites on Caroline Bay had consistently low counts of faecal indicator bacteria, well below warning levels.’’
People were spotted swimming at Caroline Bay yesterday – South Canterbury Anniversary Day.
Hayward said it had no reason to indicate that the Caroline Bay swimming grades for this summer will change from the 2018 grades, particularly given the previous summer’s low bacterial results.
‘‘Therefore, our advice to those brave swimmers using Caroline Bay at this time of year is the same as the previous summer’s – overall, the water quality of Caroline Bay is suitable for swimming, but swimming around the west end of the Bay should be avoided for at least 48 hours after a rainfall event,’’ she said.
ECan’s swimming grade report is released annually, and will likely be released in November.
‘‘As with previous summers, we will be sampling three sites in Caroline Bay weekly from the middle of November to early March 2021, and we encourage swimmers to check the weekly results on Lawa once sampling begins,’’ Hayward said.
In February 2019, the Canterbury District Health Board issued a health warning after high levels of faecal bacteria were found in consecutive samples taken from Caroline Bay sites at Virtue Ave, the middle of the Bay, and at the Yacht and Power Boat Club. The warnings were lifted a few days later.
Hayward said stormwater discharges into streams that flow into Caroline Bay have the potential to impact water quality.
‘‘We therefore advise people against swimming in the Bay near stream or stormwater outfalls for 48 hours after rainfall,’’ Hayward said.
A Lawa spokeswoman said ‘‘outside the summer swim season (or when there are no recent weekly result), the ‘‘overall bacterial risk’’ is displayed instead and clicking through to the site you can see historical monitoring data from the past three seasons’’.
‘‘This historical monitoring graph gives an indication of what recreation water quality has been like for this site over previous summers.
‘‘We keep this data publicly available during the off-season for locals to check out what water quality was like and it can be a useful resource for people planning summer holidays.’’
She said as swim spots are only monitored during summer, the ‘‘available data is not a reflection of winter swimming water quality as this could be different’’.
It comes after Lawa released its report on the country’s lakes and rivers on Sunday, which showed that much of the catchment in South Canterbury was declining in water quality.
The Lawa report shows that in the Opihi catchment alone, Lake Opuha at Skipton’s Bridge was listed as A, for water quality (but declining), Tengawai River at Tengawai Bridge was B (but improving), Smithfield Creek D (but improving), and Waihi River was B (but degrading).