Hutt Valley water quality report 'generally good'

Many places in the Hutt Valley are good for swimming but a few spots are not so great, especially after rain, a new Recreational Water Quality report card shows.

"The dry summer was great for water quality but created ideal conditions for toxic algae growth in rivers which caused a problem in the Hutt and Pakuratahi rivers," says GWRC Senior Environmental Scientist Summer Greenfield.

"Only five of the water samples we took over summer 2015/16 did not meet guidelines for safe swimming compared with 22 the year before.

This is because less rainfall resulted in less contamination being washed off the surrounding catchment into rivers," says Ms Greenfield.

"Most sites are generally safe for swimming unless it's been raining.

Rainfall washes contamination from surrounding urban and rural land into waterways. We encourage people to wait two days after heavy rain before swimming again," says Ms Greenfield.

The best sites for swimming were Days Bay and Robinson Bay. Both had an overall B grade meaning there is a low risk of becoming ill from swimming in the water.

Hutt River sites also had good water quality but toxic algae was a problem last summer in the Hutt River between Birchville and Silverstream and at the Pakuratahi River at Kaitoke Regional Park.

We'll be starting our upcoming summer monitoring programme in December. We'll keep the community continually informed of water quality so they can get out and enjoy their recreational activities safely.

Get copies of our 2015/2016 report cards.

ENDS

Media contact:

021 914 266 or comms@gw.govt.nz