Cleanest, dirtiest swim spots
The beaches along the eastern edge of the Miramar peninsula have Wellington’s cleanest water, with O¯ whiro Bay – where summer swimmers have a onein-10 chance of illness – taking out the bottom spot.
The data, from the 2020-2021 year, appears to be backed up in current information, which shows O¯ whiro Bay is one of a handful of swim spots in the Wellington region where swimmers are routinely urged to be cautious of contamination before going for a dip.
Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (Lawa) regularly publishes tests taken at Wellington’s swim spots and issues warnings or suitable-to-swim notices.
The data comes as Wellington basks in a long, hot summer period combined with the summer break for many, that saw hordes flock to beaches to cool off.
Greater Wellington Regional Council’s longer-term data, covering the 365 days until midway through 2021, shows the stretch of beaches from Scorching Bay to Breaker Bay on Miramar peninsula had 305 swimmable days in the year.
All beaches in the inner Wellington Harbour had between 263 swimmable days, at the Taranaki St diving platform, and 301 days at Balaena and Shark bays, and Hataitai Beach.
Hataitai Beach was often closed in the late 1990s due to faecal pollution. By comparison, O¯ whiro Bay – where there have been repeated issues with pollution, blamed on landfills up the valley and sewage leaks – had 148 days deemed suitable for swimming in the year.
Lawa gave O¯ whiro Bay – within the Taputeranga Marine Reserve – a ‘‘poor grade’’ using data going back five years, meaning the risk of illness for those in contact with the water was 10 per cent over the summer period.
On Thursday morning, O¯ whiro Bay was deemed suitable but people were warned to avoid the area around the river mouth, where there were ongoing contamination issues, particularly after heavy rainfall.
O¯ whiro Bay local Ali Forrest, who swims at O¯ whiro Bay most days, said locals knew to swim well away from the polluted river mouth but it was ‘‘totally disgraceful’’ that authorities had not fixed the pollution yet. Locals had campaigned to get it fixed for the past two years, she said.
Most of Wellington’s monitored swim sites were fine to swim at on Wednesday, with the only coastal exceptions being caution advised at Plimmerton Beach near Bath St and, also at Porirua, near the Wi Neera Drive boat ramp. Te Horo Beach at Sea Rd in Ka¯ piti was also deemed suitable but, as with O¯ whiro, caution was urged due to contamination.
However, every single Wellington Harbour site was changed to ‘‘caution advised’’ for swimmers on Thursday.
Rivers were dodgier, with swimming not advised – or caution urged – in parts of the Hutt River, and the Ruamahanga River at Te Ore Ore in Wairarapa on Wednesday and Thursday.
Caution was also advised at Richard Prouse Park on the Wainuiomata River.
Regional council marine and freshwater team leader Dr Evan Harrison said the data showed that Wellington region’s beaches had been mostly safe for swimming so far this summer.
‘‘Water quality changes, however, with significant rain, which flushes pollutants from roads and other surfaces on to beaches, leading to the posting of ‘unsafe for swimming’ notices by Lawa for specific beaches,’’ he said.
‘‘This occurred prior to Christmas following floods in Ka¯piti, where several beaches were affected and a ra¯ hui was put in place.’’
Councils test the water quality of popular swim sites each week over the swimming season.