Improving rivers popular
Although swimmers at the Manawatu¯ and O¯ roua rivers are enjoying their favourite swimming spots, there is still room for improvement with water quality.
More than half of the stretches of river in the region covered by Horizons Regional Council are not suitable for swimming. It is aiming for 70 per cent to be suitable by 2030; 80 per cent by 2040.
The Manawatu¯ River was one of New Zealand’s worst polluted rivers – in 2009, it was named as the most polluted river out of 300 in the Western world.
Now, Horizons group manager Dr Jon Roygard said there had been an overall trend of declining bacteria levels in the region’s rivers. However, despite significant improvements to water quality, Roygard said E coli levels were increasing in parts of the Manawatu¯ River and there was still plenty of work to be done.
Horizons has an interactive map on its website that uses a red, orange and green system to indicate how safe it is to swim at about 80 swimming holes. The council measures E coli and cyanobacteria.
The improvement has been the result of wastewater treatment plant upgrades and reducing effluent discharges into the rivers. The council provides funding for landowners to install stream fencing to exclude stock from waterways.
Having grown up around rivers, Sarah and Shannon Paewai think they are good at judging how safe they are to swim in. Having two young kids makes them more vigilant about checking water quality.
‘‘You know the first thing they’ll do is swallow some of the water,’’ Shannon said while spending an afternoon at the Manawatu¯ River.
After learning about river health in high school, Quade Johnson, who was also spending time at the river, has become more aware of the pollution in New Zealand’s waterways and said he felt confident about judging how clean a river was based on the appearance of the water.
Roygard said a good rule to determine if a spot was safe to swim in was if the water looked clear and if it had not rained heavily over the past few days.
Kristil Te Kowhai was part of a group swimming in the O¯ roua river, in Feilding. Usually, she would swim at rivers further out of town, but had been attracted back to local swimming holes.
There is an overall trend of declining bacteria levels.