City rivers and beaches caution removed

Warning signs for people to avoid swimming or gathering seafood in the Waimata and Turanganui Rivers and city beaches were removed on Monday morning.

The standard precaution remained in place for 5 days after 6cubic meters of sewage leaked from the pump station on Riverside Road last Tuesday evening (8 December).

Regulatory services manager Sarwan Kumar said that water test samples taken the morning after the leak showed the water was too poor for recreational use.

Further samples were taken on Friday and results received yesterday confirmed the levels had dropped to less than half the recommended limits.

“Some of the test results from the Wednesday samples seemed to be anomalies.

“The results were in the usual range at Grant Road and around the area of the discharge, but they were quite high downstream to a degree that didn’t seem quite right. We took further samples and left the precaution in place over the weekend.”

The tests sample for presence of bacteria. One of those, Enterococci, can multiply from natural sources such as the decay of leaf material.

The discharge happened because of a fault in the level sensors that trigger the pumps to operate and a mechanical fault with the emergency release valve.

Operations group manager Barry Vryenhoek said Council takes responsibility for making sure the systems work and says the water utilities team are taking the fault very seriously.

“All 39 pump stations have been checked for the same faults and none were found.”

Council’s environmental services staff are still investigating if any enforcement action is necessary.

ENDS

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