Lyall Bay beach and the rest of Wellington's south coast has been off limits since the Moa Point treatment plant failed on 4 February. Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens
After a couple of days of rough weather and some heavy raid, beaches all around Wellington's south coast and in the inner harbour have been given "unsuitable for swimming" status...not that the weather has many wanting to take the plunge.
But over the last month, water quality has been seriously affected by a fault at the treatment plant at Moa Point that resulted in untreated sewage being pumped in Cook Strait.
A suspected break in the main outfall pipe from the Seaview in Lower Hutt just yesterday has resulted in what is probably treated wastewater going into the storm water system.
But the problem isn't the capital's alone. Many of Auckland's beaches are often unswimmable after rain triggers wastewater overflows.
And Christchurch's mayor, Phil Mauger, has asked staff to work on a possible plan to divert waste water into the ocean outfall pipe as the council struggles to control a stench created by the fire damaged treatment ponds at Bromley.
So how does the public know what's safe and what's not, especially when the official advice comes with caveats related to weather?
Kathryn talks to Edward Abraham, the Managing Director of DragonFly Data Science, who is both an experienced oceanographer and a resident of Island Bay on Wellington's south Coast.
