Don't go near the water: health warnings at more than 30 Auckland beaches after heavy rain

Monday, 12 February 2018

Mission Bay was one of 12 beaches around Auckland where sewage overflows were detected on Sunday (file photo).

Dozens of Auckland beaches remain unsafe for swimming after heavy rain throughout the region.

Sewage overflows were detected by sensors at 12 popular hotspots on Sunday, according to Auckland Council's SafeSwim website.

On Monday, the website showed water quality warnings were in place at 30 beaches in total, from Hatfields in the north to Sandspit in the south.

That was on top of the 16 long-term water quality warnings already in place throughout Auckland.

The SafeSwim map showing beaches deemed unsafe for swimming. The red drops are temporary water quality warnings, while the red swimmer denotes long-term alerts.

The warnings showed the beaches were a 'high risk' for swimmers.

'Elevated health risk due to poor water quality, temporary no-swim warning in effect,' they read.

The sewage overflows were detected at Mission Bay, Browns Bay, Castor Bay, Herne Bay, Home Bay, Mairangi Bay, Milford South, Narrow Neck, Okahu Bay, Point England, St Heliers, and St Marys Bay.

Those alerts were still in place on Monday.

Sewage overflows typically occur during large storms, when stormwater seeps into the city's sewerage system causing it to be overwhelmed.

A mixture of sewage and stormwater is then pumped out onto the city's beaches as an emergency measure to prevent it overflowing onto private property.

An Auckland Council spokesman said on Sunday the council had always discouraged swimming 48 hours after any major storm.

Safeswim technical lead Martin Neale earlier said rainfall was the main cause of poor water quality at beaches, and it was not unusual for them to become 'high risk' or unsafe for swimming amidst bad weather.