Pilot Bay at Mount Maunganui was reopened, then closed again after mixed water results. Photo/file
Pilot Bay at Mount Maunganui was reopened, then closed again after mixed water results. Photo/file
There was contamination confusion at Pilot Bay in Mount Maunganui today, with the council giving the popular swimming spot the all-clear one minute, before again urging people to stay out of the water less than an hour later.
The Tauranga City Council today received its water test results after a wastewater overflow at the busy beach last weekend and at about 2.25pm, announced the beach had been given the all-clear.
But mixed results then prompted another warning to be made shortly after.
The council said one of the five samples taken from Pilot Bay had returned with high levels of bacteria.
Additional water quality samples would be taken to check bacteria levels in the water but, until the new results were received, people were urged to stay out of the water.
A photo of a blocked wastewater pump in Mount Maunganui supplied by the council as an example. This is not a photo of the blockage in Pilot Bay, which occurred in a wastewater pipe. Photo / Supplied
Authorities did not know how much wastewater entered Pilot Bay after a pipe blockage caused by wet wipes resulted in an overflow.
Council consents officer Radleigh Cairns said the incoming high tide would have helped to block the discharge from the stormwater pipe and keep it in the pipeline.
"Any discharge would have been from the stormwater outlet adjacent to the boat ramp near Mauao."
The blockage was in a wastewater pipe, which caused the flow to come through a manhole, into the gutter, and down a stormwater drain.
The council announced last Saturday that people needed to stay out of the water and posted signs all over the beach and on buoys in the water.
Water samples were sent for testing.
Signs were erected at Pilot Bay over the weekend alerting beachgoers of a temporary health warning. Photo / George Novak
Wet wipes, including "flushable" wipes, were a growing issue for wastewater networks across New Zealand and had been the cause of blockages around Tauranga, in residential areas as well as areas where there is a high percentage of visitors.
They were believed to be to blame for the weekend's blockage, which occurred in a pipe down Adams Ave.
Cairns said the council's wastewater network was not designed to take objects such as flushable wipes that did not break down but instead bound together and built up.
People were still swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding at Pilot Bay over the weekend despite signs warning them to not enter the water. Photo / George Novak
He said if a particular section of the wastewater network was experiencing regular issues, and the cause can be pinpointed, then the council would look at possible solutions.
"These could include CCTV and modifications to the pipeline if there is, for example, a bend that is too sharp, or a flaw in the pipe that enables a build-up to take hold."
A Pilot Bay wastewater overflow in February 2016 was in a different part of the pipeline, the council said and was caused by a blockage made up of unidentified non-flushable materials.
The source of that overflow was also reported at the time to be on Adams Ave, where a suspected blockage was cleared.
