Calculated risk: Despite the swimming ban Taranaki Regional councillor Craig Williamson said the surf was great - his daughter Izaro Williamson Sasia had greater concern about sewage in the waves. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki
Calculated risk: Despite the swimming ban Taranaki Regional councillor Craig Williamson said the surf was great - his daughter Izaro Williamson Sasia had greater concern about sewage in the waves. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki
New Plymouth’s most acclaimed beaches are closed for swimming and kai gathering at the height of summer after a brief rainstorm overwhelmed the city’s sewage system.
But the pollution ban didn’t stop Taranaki Regional councillor and surfer advocate Craig Williamson, who Local Democracy Reporting found taking to the waves with his daughter on Monday.
A decade ago, Fitzroy and East End were internationally accredited Blue Flag beaches. Still, overflows of the city’s wastewater treatment plant are common, and no mention of the environmental gong remains on the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) website.
Safe or not?: Warning signs promised by New Plymouth District Council are non-existent, and permanent signs by the council and public health authorities at the mouth of the Te Henui Stream offer contradictory advice on swimming. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki
Now both beaches are on a 48-hour do not swim notice, and seafood is considered unsafe. There are no warnings on site except a handwritten note on a surf lifesavers’ whiteboard, despite NPDC saying it put temporary signage at the beaches.
Late Sunday afternoon intense rainfall overwhelmed the biological treatment capacity of the wastewater plant, sending partially untreated sewage through the marine outfall at the Waiwhakaiho river mouth. Although screened and disinfected, the 10-minute wastewater discharge was risky enough to close swimming until the end of Tuesday at the beaches, as well as both sides of the Waiwhakaiho River Mouth and Bell Block Beach.
Further along the coast Waitara’s beaches each side of its river were already closed indefinitely for swimming and kai, due to ongoing high bacteria levels recorded by the Taranaki Regional Council.
Taranaki Regional Council's water quality advice sign at East End beach is overgrown. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki
Craig Williamson, a New Plymouth councillor on the official coast watchdog Taranaki Regional Council and chief executive of Surfing Taranaki, reckoned dilution was the solution to the beaches’ pollution.
Water moves along New Plymouth’s coast from west to east, he explained, so infection risk would be greater at beaches east of the outfall.
Williamson confirmed the promised signage was a mirage.
“There’s no signage. People don’t know.”
The chair of TRC’s powerful Planning and Policy Committee said the council’s water testing was unhelpful as results took three days.
“What’s the point of knowing what it was like three days ago? So, they’re calculated risks, but there would be 300 people who surf today. It’s the height of summer and look, the surf is really good.”
His daughter Izaro Williamson Sasia said she would have at least worn earplugs against infection if she’d known of sewage in the water before their couple of hours surfing.
Nearby rivers offer no relief for sweltering swimmers: bacteria had already closed indefinitely four swimming holes on the Te Hēnui Stream and two more at the popular Audrey Gale Reserve and Meeting of the Waters on the Waiwhakaiho River.
Taranaki Regional Council's water quality advice sign at Fitzroy is tucked away behind the surf and lifesaving clubs in the carpark, hidden from the beachfront. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki
Everett Park on the Manganui River is also closed to dogs and swimmers thanks to TRC bacteria testing.
At the start of summer, TRC issued blanket advice that swimmers avoid waterways for a few days after heavy or prolonged rain.
“That means any rain that leads to surface run-off, where you might see lots of water flowing in the gutters,” said council water quality scientist Angela Collins.
“Rain washes pollutants, including animal and bird faeces, from the land into rivers, lakes and the sea which can make them temporarily unsafe for swimming.”
Collins said three fine days usually restored water quality, but it was safest to stay out of water that didn’t look or smell right.
“If you can’t see your feet in knee-deep water, or if the water smells unpleasant, wait another day or two for the water to run clear before going for a dip.
“It’s just not worth the risk of getting sick.”
The council samples weekly at 41 popular swimming spots at lakes, rivers and beaches and results are posted to TRC’s Can I Swim Here? webpage, as well as www.lawa.org.nz on Thursday evening.
District councils are responsible for signs at swim spots and Te Whatu Ora decides when to issue public health warnings.
In September 2022 the council’s environmental quality director Abby Matthews confirmed that high E. coli levels at most testing sites came from farm animals.
Matthews said the then-government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management required councils to set limits on natural resource use, to reduce E. coli.
“Most of the actions are fairly well-known: keeping stock out of waterways, improving effluent discharges, looking at critical source areas on-farm – so dairy-shed effluent, laneways, places like that – are always going to be your best bang for the buck.”
The new coalition Government has promised to replace the National Policy Statement “to allow district councils more flexibility in how they meet environmental limits”.
Taranaki is used to dirty coastal waters after rain, mostly from farm runoff, but isn't always contaminated with partially untreated sewage. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki
It wants to exempt councils from their obligations under the statement as soon as practicable and “rebalance Te Mana o te Wai to better reflect the interests of all water users”.
There are 5038 Blue Flagged beaches in 51 countries as far-flung as Albania, India and Ukraine.
They must maintain environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria including permanently displayed information about biodiversity, ecosystems and environmental phenomena.
Currently, no New Zealand beach flies a Blue Flag.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
