Mayor Phil Goff says, "Heading to the beach to enjoy the summer is part of our birthright as Aucklanders," and that "we've got poo in the water and that's not good enough".
Auckland's water infrastructure is splitting at the seams – our waste and stormwater drains are busted and leaking. Climate change puts more pressure on water infrastructure with more frequent and intense storms.
So it was puzzling to hear Simon Bridges announce, at his party's "BlueGreens" conference at the weekend, that National's big water policy for this election is to help schools and community groups clean up beaches by giving out $1.7 million annually for the next three years. This misses the mark.
I am part of Milford WEEPS (Wairau Estuary Environment Protection Society), one of the community groups advocating for council to clean up Auckland's beaches. I can tell you that community and school groups cannot fix the sewage contamination of our beaches and swim holes.
National's policy underestimates the scale of the problem. Strong leadership and robust long-term strategy are needed to fix the country's neglected wastewater infrastructure. We wait to hear from the Labour-led Government what their freshwater reforms this year will do for wastewater.
Schools and community groups cannot carry out the $7 billion of capital works required to fix Auckland City's broken pipes and drains.
For context, North Shore City Council spent $5m per annum to get the poo out of the stormwater and off the beaches. This was making a difference but funding was pulled when the Super City formed in 2010.
The Wairau Estuary, where I live, is permanently off-limits for bathing. Despite the signs, kids still swim there. Even when the water appears clear and turquoise, there is a flow of human poo making it unsafe. It concentrates in the shallows, where children play.
Sewage in beaches is a public health issue. It risks ear infection, sinus infection, respiratory tract infection and diarrhoeal illness. Due to the time for illness to incubate, most people don't realise that their "flu" or "tummy upset" came from swimming in contaminated water.
Waste and stormwater infrastructure has long been a regional council only responsibility. However, given our growing population, the scale of inadequate infrastructure and the need to prepare for climate change, the issue needs a central Government-led strategy.
Significant money is already being spent on Auckland's wastewater system but, despite Phil Goff's claims, the central interceptor project will only clean up the Western isthmus, the inner harbour beaches. It can't help North Shore beaches from Devonport north. And it won't do anything for the beaches along Tamaki Drive and further afield.
The completion of the central interceptor is years away. Then work starts on the Eastern isthmus (Buckland's Beach, Howick). That will take more years. There is no plan to fix the North Shore beaches, even though people from all over Auckland flock to these jewels every summer. Indeed, the council arm responsible for stormwater, Healthy Waters, is so far over budget that even 'business as usual' projects are being slowed or put on hold.
We all want our moko to be able enjoy Auckland's unique natural environment, our rivers and beaches safely.
Central and regional government politicians need to consider the health of people and our cities into the future. Cutting the ribbon on a new poo pipe may be less glamorous than doing the same on a nice shiny building but New Zealanders are mature enough to see its huge value. We treasure our natural environment.
It'll never be cheaper to fix than now, and with transparent leadership and a coherent strategy it can be fixed in good time.
The new drinking water regulator established by the Government this year is welcome, but shouldn't its responsibilities extend to waste and stormwater too, given the public health risk? Any regulator must drive change and accountability not more bureaucracy.
Feel-good statements from politicians about clean beaches need to be accompanied by dates and milestones, together with realistic amounts of committed funding.
• Guy Armstrong is spokesman for Milford WEEPS (Wairau Estuary Environment Protection Society) and a doctor.
