Concerns over dying swimming hole
A dying Canterbury swimming hole has almost dried up after its flow plummeted to the lowest point in its recorded history.
Coes Ford on the Selwyn River, a once popular camping spot now too polluted for swimming, has hit rock bottom.
The river’s flow has dropped by 90 per cent in two months, falling to 9 litres per second on February 6, according to Environment Canterbury (ECan) data.
ECan confirmed it was the lowest flow recorded at the site since records began in 1987.
It was less than half the previous record low of 20 litres per second, which was recorded in March 2006.
It has been a spectacular decline for Coes Ford, which was swimmable as recently as two years ago.
Locals have fond memories of the river, where water levels would at times rise to meet the ford crossing.
The water level this summer has rarely risen above ankle deep and flows in a thin trickle, the water fly-blown and covered in algae.
Further downstream, at Selwyn Huts, residents no longer go near the river because it is too polluted. It flows into Lake Ellesmere, believed to be the country’s most polluted lake.
Data shows that on the first day of summer, the river’s flow at Coes Ford was around 130 litres per second. It has fallen 93 per cent since then.
While there had been considerable rainfall in recent months, it was not enough to restore groundwater levels which had been unusually low three winters in a row, ECan chief scientist Tim Davie said.
Irrigators have been on full restriction around Coes Ford for several months.
The river’s shocking state comes as authorities work towards making Coes Ford swimmable again.
Late last year, the SelwynWaihora Zone Committee introduced its Swimmable Selwyn @ Coes Ford initiative, which sought to restore the swimming hole to its former glory.
Committee chairman Allen Lim said the first thing was to determine what was causing the issue.
‘‘What we’re looking at at the moment is it part of climate change or just part of the natural cycle? Some of those things we don’t know. Even science can’t provide all the answers.’’