A claim that the Manawatu River is one of the Western world's most polluted have been described as exaggerated.
A report commissioned by the Manawatu-Wanganui regional council says that by one measure of oxygen content, which indicates pollution, the Manawatu is the worst of 300 rivers and streams tested in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Its dissolved oxygen level was found to be 100, when zero to four is considered healthy.
Council chair Garrick Murfitt says the river is no more polluted than many others. Twenty years ago, he admits, raw sewage and offal were going into it, but he says it's getting better all the time "and the tests show that."
The council's regulations and planning manager, Greg Carlyon, also says the research is misleading. The river has high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, he says, but is nowhere near as polluted as many others.
He says the council is moving to introduce tougher discharge regulations.
Massey University ecologist Mike Joy says the research, done by the Cawthron Institute in Nelson, should ring alarm bells for many other New Zealand rivers.
