Swimmability maps highlight Coast's water quality

Swimmability maps highlight Coast’s water quality

Government announcements on National Policy Statement work, swimmability maps and the new Improvement Fund provide the next step to address rising concerns throughout New Zealand for our freshwater resources.

The ‘swimmability maps’, comparing water quality between all the regions in New Zealand, indicates that the West Coast freshwater resources are swimmable 99% of the time. While this is the highest level in New Zealand, this result is not unexpected due to the land use of the region and the good work that has been undertaken by industry, landowners and community groups especially in reducing point source discharges.

Here on the West Coast, the Regional Council holds freshwater management in high regard with some notable successes in recent years.

“While we have pretty good water quality throughout the region, there are some areas, and activities, that we are focussing on,” said Regional Council Chief Executive Mike Meehan. “The work undertaken with landowners in the Lake Brunner Catchment, and Harris Creek area, highlight how we can work with the community to improve water quality.”

Mr Meehan said that collectively the region needs to work together to keep making progress on water quality issues. “This will ensure that the reasons people choose to live here, and come to visit, are maintained into the future.”

In recent years, the Council has reviewed provisions regarding land use activities affecting water quality in the Lake Brunner catchment, and by working with submitters on the Proposed Regional Policy Statement a clear pathway forward is being mapped for water management. “We are ensuring that changes in this space, particularly through the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management will be implemented by Council into the future, recognising the importance of water to our communities,” said Mr Meehan.

The swimmability maps provided by MfE are based on a yearly average, and only show water quality at a moment in time which does not present an accurate picture of the current state of the West Coast’s waterways. The Council recommends people use LAWA as their primary source of swimmability information, as it provides real-time information based on the latest sampling that complies with established guidelines.

“I would remind our communities, and visitors to the region, that waterways are never swimmable all year round, particularly after heavy rain,” said Mr Meehan. “Check out our website for the latest sampling results before heading off for a swim.”

LAWA (Land Air Water Aotearoa) is a partnership between regional councils, the Cawthron Institute, MfE and Massey University.

Today (Friday 24 February), 100% of the West Coast freshwater sites shown on LAWA are flagged as suitable for swimming. Two sites did not have data obtained in the lastest round of sampling.