AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASE

15 August 2007

City beaches receive “good to very good” water rating

Eight years of beach-water monitoring has shown that beach water quality in Auckland city is generally good, with some beaches rating very good.

The Safeswim programme, which began the weekly monitoring of 20 beaches across the Auckland city isthmus and Hauraki Gulf Islands in 1999, focuses on collecting water over the 25-week summer period. Auckland City Council has run the programme in tandem with North Shore and Rodney councils.

“The purpose of Safeswim is to determine bacteriological water quality and reduce public health risk by updating the public on beach water quality and health education,” said Works and Services Committee chairperson, Councillor Neil Abel.

Only seven out of 439 beach water samples, 1.6 per cent collected over 2006-2007 season exceeded an alert level, which resulted in the testing of these beaches being upgraded to daily tests to determine the cause of high bacterial levels.

Further testing of these beaches revealed that the levels at five of these beaches were not a danger to the public, and that there was no need to erect warning signs, or close beaches. Of the remaining beaches, it was commonly found that heavy rainfall had contributed to high levels of enterococci found in the water.

It is advisable that people not swim for 48 hours after heavy rainfall, says Abel, as

stormwater drains, which flow to the sea, will often carry dirty water at that time.

The number of visits to the council’s Safeswim web page increased significantly over the monitoring season, reflecting an increase of public awareness of the programme. A hotline is also available, 0800 SAFESWIM.

ENDS

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