Faecal investigation some time off, swimmers resort to rival testing regime

Answers as to why so many of Canterbury’s beaches were off limits last summer may not be available until closer to next summer, with some swimmers calling the delay unacceptable.

Several popular Whakaraupō-Lyttelton Harbour beaches were classified as unsuitable for swimming ahead of last summer based on long term faecal bacteria (enterococci) testing. Other beaches were given temporary warnings after heavy rainfall, which can flush contaminants into waterways.

More recently, an open-water swim event was cancelled 24 hours before it was due to start, after public health officials advised the city council that Akaroa Harbour’s grade (given late last year by Environment Canterbury) meant the race could not go ahead despite proposed mitigations.

But hopes of pinpointing the source of the faecal bacteria seem distant, as ECan acknowledges results of its investigations are some time off.

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* Popular beach deemed too dirty to swim in is currently safe, says local who paid for own water test
* Yet another popular Christchurch beach deemed unsafe for swimming

In January, ECan surface water science team leader Shirley Hayward said the council would undertake an investigation into the source of excrement, including “specialist faecal source tracking analysis to distinguish human, animal and bird sources…’’

Later, Hayward said investigations were dependent on conditions “such as rainfall, high faecal results, and labs being open,” but the council would report findings after its summer monitoring programme finished.

The latest update suggests results are some time off, with Hayward advising weekly sampling would finish in mid-March, and assessment and reporting will be completed “around the middle of the year”.

However, “further analysis and modelling may not be able to start until the new financial year (July to October),” she said.

Akaroa Beach (French Bay), Corsair Bay, Diamond Harbour Beach, Purau Bay, Rāpaki Bay and Sandy Bay have all been labelled unsuitable for swimming due to the “elevated risk to human health risk from contact with the water” based on long term data “regardless of the most recent result.”

Frustration with official water quality guidance prompted swim coach Dan Abel to start his own testing late last year, which he continues to post on the firm’s website alongside ECan’s results.

Open water swimmer Leith Cooper is one of those supporting the testing, “one of many in the Christchurch swim community” doing so, he said.

“We care about the quality of our harbour and water, and protecting ourselves as well,”

But he’s frustrated with ECan’s approach, grading and lack of follow-up testing.

Faecal tracking is expensive and unnecessary, “a complete waste of time,” Cooper said.

He points to testing conducted by Fit and Abel from a storm water drain during heavy rain which showed high E coli readings. (E coli exists in freshwater, enterococci in coastal water)

“There’s your smoking gun. Let’s fix the storm water drains.”

The situation is having serious ramifications.

“People are not swimming. It’s affecting local businesses, and Akaroa [ocean-swim event] was called off because of their tardiness.”

Long-term grading “without review or daily testing … is misleading,” causing people “to think there’s a long term pollution problem in the harbour, and they can’t swim there and that’s not the case.”

Spike events (elevated bacteria after rainfall) are the cause of the poor grades, and testing “within a day or two” shows bacteria drops back to undetectable levels.

After spikes, ECan should follow up with daily testing, something Cooper said it is failing to do.

“We certainly have a problem with run off, and ECan could do a better job of publicising that, but the rest of the time the water quality is very good.”

“Why isn’t ECan doing proper scientific testing and increasing sampling frequency?”

He wants to see council staff rostered on over summer to enable daily testing during peak times.

“This is their job. They are funded to do this, they’re supposed to do it … it’s not fair on the Christchurch public … that they are not meeting national guidelines.”

The time frame for the final report is “completely unacceptable,” he said.

“They’ve known about the problem for the last five years.”