Check you're good to go ahead of warm weekend

With the weather heating up for the weekend, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is encouraging people to check the water quality before deciding on a swimming spot swim safely following the recent rainfall. 

Swimmers need to check before they jump in says Regional Council’s Marine and Coastal Principal Scientist Anna Madarasz-Smith.

“With the recent rainfall, swim-ability and water quality at some of our swim spots will be affected. It’s best to stay out of the water for two to three days following a heavy rain, or if the water is discoloured,” says Mrs Madarasz-Smith.

Anyone can use their smartphone to check the traffic light and overall grade for their favourite swimming spot by going to hbrc.govt.nz and searching #swim.

The environmental monitoring team goes out every Monday to monitor more than 30 popular recreational water spots across the region, from November until mid-March, says Team Leader Water Quality and Ecology Vicki Lyon.

“It’s important to be aware that our samples were taken prior to the intense rainfall experienced in Napier on Monday, and it is best to avoid these waters until further sampling can confirm that the water quality is suitable for swimming again.”

“We work closely with the national team to feed results to the ‘Can I Swim Here’ tool at LAWA.org.nz/swim, which is also a plug-in on our website. This gives a great picture of weather, water temperature, facilities and how to get to swim spots,” says Ms Lyon.

The monitoring results for all regions are shared on the national LAWA website – which stands for Land Air Water Aotearoa – and is New Zealand's most comprehensive source of natural resource data. The website displays the current state and trend information for New Zealand's rivers and lakes, water use and availability, bathing beaches, air quality and land cover.

12 November 2020

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