Swimming in the river – the coolest place to be
Friday’s high of 30C was the hottest yet for January and had a couple dozen young men and boys of differing payloads dropping bomb after bomb into the river at Wellington Street beach.
The wide, fast-flowing Waikato River is often overlooked – but here’s a good reason to swim: It’s been sticky hot. MetService weather data shows Hamilton had highs of 25-degree Celsius and above for 20 of the past 30 days.
Balanced precariously atop a 6m-high branch at Wellington Street beach on Friday was Henare Rawiri, 21, who has swum in the river for as long as he can remember.
‘‘It depends where you swim, but it’s safe here and everyone knows their boundaries,’’ he said.
Rawiri last spent Thursday evening at another popular spot – he was launching off a small cliff at Hamilton Gardens to cool off after a day’s scaffolding work.
It’s mostly Ma¯ori swimming in the river, he said, though he’s not sure why.
Sister-in-law Shilom Kohi, 21, chimed in: ‘‘People hear stories that all the sewers and whatever come in here.’’
But she feels safer here than in an ocean or a pool.
Teacher TJ Mihinui, watching on from a deck chair in the shallows, has been at the Hayes Paddock beach three or four times a week this summer.
‘‘This goes out quite shallow, so it’s safe for the kids. Everyone’s quite proactive about watching the children.’’
Mihinui knew of no drownings or illnesses contracted in her 20 years of river swimming.
It wasn’t uncommon for people to park their car downstream at Parana Park, walk up to Wellington St Beach and float back down, she said.
An upgrade to the facilities at the beach, considered but not planned by the council, couldn’t come soon enough.
‘‘It’s a free and natural resource . . . It doesn’t get utilised as much as I think it should.’’
Niwa chief scientist of freshwater and estuaries John Quinn lives in Hamilton East and swims at the Wellington Street beach, too.
He said river swimmers need to consider two variables: Escherichia coli and water clarity.
A high number of E coli in a river can make you sick. Waikato Regional Council data shows the Waikato River at Airport Road, not far upstream of the city, has a 0.1 per cent risk of infection from the bacteria.
‘‘When we’ve looked at data over the last six years … the river through Hamilton city does meet the swimmable criteria for E coli,’’ Quinn said.
This is the case for much of the Waikato River, though people should be wary of the point at which it meets the Waipa River in Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia. The Waipa is not in such good condition, he said.
The one proviso: People should be careful after heavy rain and the subsequent runoff from upstream farms.
‘‘The hydro dams have actually helped with runoff. People have done a lot of fencing and planting over the last 15 years and there’s been less discharge of effluent, too . . . which has also helped.’’
Clarity is a good measure of a river being swimmable, he said. Research shows if visibility is below 1.5 metres, there are probably enough bugs to warrant staying out for a couple of days.
‘‘A river like the Waikato, you’ve got to be careful because it’s obviously a big system. People can get themselves into trouble quite easily.’’
Waikato Regional Council maritime services team leader Richard Barnett said the river level and current can increase due to rainfall and activity at the Karapiro Dam.
Inexperienced swimmers should be mindful of the fast-flowing currents and keep close to the shore.
‘‘You cannot swim against [the current] and it’s going to be over your head very quickly.
‘‘There have been some fatalities over the years. That tends to be people underestimating the risk and overestimating their ability.’’
Hamilton Mayor Andrew King knows the danger of underestimating the risk first-hand. As a 15-year-old, he jumped into the current wearing jeans and had to be saved by two people, who swam in from the riverbank.
His two sons, both competitive swimmers, frequently float down the river.
‘‘My kids go up to the Gardens, jump in and swim all the way down to Hamilton. They run back through Hamilton in their Speedos afterwards and get some quite strange looks.
‘‘I haven’t had a kid get sick or die yet … I would say the water’s safe, but it is dangerous if you’re not a strong swimmer.’’
The Hamilton City Council’s River Plan includes an upgrade to Wellington Street beach, including new toilet and changing facilities.
But it is outside the budget of the current 10-year plan and King is reluctant to commit to any project.
Additional facilities might encourage more swimmers and require council to hire a lifeguard, he said. ‘‘I do certainly think there’s an issue with strong currents. I wouldn’t like to be seen to be encouraging people to swim in there like it’s [Mt Maunganui’s] Pilot Bay.’’
The Waikato River is the legally recognised tupuna (ancestor) of the Waikato-Tainui people and mauri (life force) of the iwi.
Waikato-Tainui communications staff were unavailable for comment.
In a 2010 Treaty of Waitangi settlement, the Crown acknowledged the river’s ‘‘pollution, degradation and development’’ under its authority has caused Waikato-Tainui people great distress and damaged once rich fisheries.
Waikato-Tainui’s own environmental plan includes the goal: ‘‘The restoration of water quality within the Waikato River so that it is safe for people to swim in and take food over its entire length.’’
‘‘The river
through Hamilton city does meet the swimmable criteria for
E coli.’’
John Quinn
Niwa chief scientist of freshwater and estuaries