As we splash into the swimming season and experience heavy rainfall, Greater Wellington is urging the community to check
if it’s safe to swim on Land Air Water Aotearoa’s (LAWA) website under the ‘Can I swim here’ section.
Greater Wellington senior environmental advisor Dr Sheryl Miller says, “It’s really important water users check online
if it’s safe to swim, as this has the most reliable and up to date information, rather than referring to the long term
grades of a site.
“These online alerts reflect the conditions of the site on a particular day, so it will tell you if there are changes in
the water quality due to weather and incidents.
“Even if swimming spots have typically excellent water quality they can experience spikes in faecal contamination,
especially after heavy rainfall like we’ve seen recently.
“To keep safe, we recommend people avoid swimming for 48 hours after heavy rainfall, this gives sufficient time for
contaminants to be flushed away,” says Dr Miller.
In Wellington, 12 sites have ‘poor’ long term grades, which means that they have higher levels of contamination 5
percent or more of the time.
A ‘poor’ long term grade for a site does not necessarily mean the community shouldn’t swim there, but it does indicate
there is a higher risk of illness to swimmers than a site with a better grade.
Greater Wellington monitors and reports on 88 freshwater and coastal sites throughout the region to predict their water
quality risk status. This programme uses a ‘risk-based model’ to predict how safe it is to swim at a spot in real-time
and produce up-to-date alerts twice a day.
Stay informed and safe by checking for updates on LAWA’s ‘Can I swim here’ page: https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/swimming/ENDSNote to editor:The sites in Wellington with ‘poor’ long term grades are:Ruamahanga River at Te Ore OreHutt River at BirchvilleHutt River at Maoribank CornerHutt River at Melling BridgeHutt River at Poets ParkPakuratahi River at ForksWainuiomata River at Richard Prouse ParkRaumati Beach at Aotea RoadSouth Beach at PlimmertonTitahi Bay at South Beach Access RoadWellington Harbour at Taranaki St Dive PlatformPorirua Harbour at Wi Neera Drive Boat Ramp