Bay Harbour: August 23, 2023

Wednesday August 23 2023 Bay Harbour News
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NEWS 7
You can help keep waterways clean
Scientist
worried
about
swimming
spots
PEOPLE ARE being urged to
think twice about what’s going
down their drains ahead of the
summer swimming season.
Whakaraupō Lyttelton
Harbour swimming bays were
deemed unfit for swimming
last summer, partly due to
contaminated storm water.
Recent testing of 50
Christchurch sites found all
failed at least one of the bacterial,
heavy metals or sediment
standards, Environment
Canterbury’s surface water
science manager Dr Elaine
Moriarty said.
“A lot of people don’t realise
that what falls on our streets and
our roads and our gardens goes
straight into our rivers,” she said.
“So if there’s anything in the
path of that, be it dog poo, or
rubbish or paint brushes that
get washed in the tap outside -
they all just flow straight into
SWIMMING: Lyttelton Harbour could be off limits to summer swimmers again this year if
action isn’t taken by everyone.
PHOTO: NEWSLINE
our rivers. There’s no filter or
anything like that.”
All but three of the sites failed
the safe E-coli standard.
Bacteria levels were especially
important when it came to
testing for safe swimming levels.
“E-coli is kind of like a red
flag, it indicates that there could
potentially be an issue. As a
comparison, your dog poo that
you pick up off the road - even if
there’s one gram of that left, that
has a million E-coli in it.”
ECan found human and
animal waste was a major
contributor to ruling some of
the region’s beaches unfit for
swimming last summer.
A clean up at the Ōpāwaho
Heathcote River in May saw
more than two tonnes of rubbish
removed and taken to landfill,
Moriarty said.
“Over 300 dog poos they
picked up, a barbecue, a
Christmas tree - one of the shiny,
sparkly plastic ones - road cones,
plastics,” said Moriarty.
The city council was also
pulling a few electric scooters
or bikes out of rivers every two
weeks.
“Everything you could
imagine ends up there, along
with our beautiful taonga
species. Our eels, fish, our
inanga that people love for their
whitebait sandwiches - they’re all
in there as well, competing with
that rubbish,” she said.
The problem was not unique
to Canterbury either, with
pollution of waterways occurring
throughout the country.
Everyone can help improve the
water quality, Moriarty said.
“If you’re out for a walk with
your dog, just pick up the poo
and put it in a bin. If you need
to wash your car, bring it to a
car wash or wash it over the
grass, just not on your driveway
because all those [soap] suds and
dirt and everything just goes
straight down into the stream.
“It’s kind of like washing your
dinner plates over your fish
tank.”
People could also ask their
mechanic about fitting brake
pads with low copper levels next
time their car was in the shop or
use a special paint to seal heavy
metals into their roofs, so they
didn’t run out with the rain,
Moriarity said.
If anyone saw something
blocking or running into a storm
water drain, they could use the
Snap Send Solve app to alert the
local authorities wherever they
are in the country, she said.
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