Water quality at beaches up to scratch

Most beaches around the country have sailed through the latest water quality checks as the holiday season gets into full swing.

The beaches barely registered any marine water bacteria in the last set of readings on Christmas Eve, although slightly older readings show beaches in Hawkes Bay did not reach required standards.

Data posted on the Environment Ministry's beach quality website said the measures of bacteria in water in Auckland, Wellington and other centres all passed the grade.

In Wellington, the cleanest, at two enterococci per 100ml of water, included Worser Bay and Scorching Bay.

Seatoun Wharf, at 48 per 100ml, registered the highest counts, but was still well below the 277ml fail mark.

Wellington's good results were largely matched by the rest of New Zealand.

Auckland beaches got a clean bill of health, as did Kaikoura, Christchurch, Banks Peninsula, Timaru and the Nelson region.

But some South Island readings were up to two years old.

The only two beaches in New Zealand to fail were Ocean Beach in Hawkes Bay, at 300 per 100ml, and Picton Foreshore, at 410 per 100ml. Both readings were taken before the Christmas Eve samples.

The ministry website says poor recreational beach water quality can affect health, causing gastrointestinal illness and other diseases that may cause cold and flu-like symptoms and skin disease.

- NZPA