Signs warning against swimming remain at Titahi Bay
Wellington Water crews yesterday located a plumbing fault in the catchment feeding into Porirua’s Titahi Bay beach and are working to get this fixed. Recent regular monitoring at Titahi Bay beach showed high bacteria counts with signage going up last Thursday recommending against swimming there.
Work is continuing in the catchment to see if any other faults can be found, and water quality testing is continuing daily.
Sunday’s water quality results indicated lower levels of contamination at Titahi Bay Beach, but the warning signage will remain in place as a precaution while work continues to resolve the causes. Our normal protocol for lifting the warning is to have two consecutive days of results within the safe bathing guidelines.
Signs went up saying Titahi Bay Beach was not suitable for swimming or other recreational activity such as fishing or collecting seafood when Wellington Water’s regular monitoring programme returned high bacteria counts on Thursday 12 March.
This result triggered a response from Wellington Water’s operational team to investigate the catchment, looking for a potential source of pollution. This process involves collecting and analysing samples from key points in the stormwater network, and the team methodically working their way upstream from the beach, following the trail of contamination.
Causes such as cross-connections from wastewater to stormwater pipes or damaged pipes provide intermittent flows, so contamination is not constant. As a consequence, some issues can lie undetected for years, while tracking faults can take weeks and sometimes has to be delayed as more urgent repairs take priority.
As well as tracking down the sources in the catchment, sampling can only tell us one part of the story, and can change from tide to tide. As stormwater outlets run onto the beach, high tide can pull in the contaminants into the sea meaning we receive a high reading, and low tide can mean there is a lower result.
Late last month high levels of bacteria were found near one of the four stormwater outlets to Titahi Bay beach through Wellington Water’s regular water quality monitoring programme. A broken wastewater pipe connection was identified approximately a kilometre from the beach and fixed the following day, ahead of the Titahi Bay Beach festival.
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we are having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
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Calling All Puzzle Masters! Can You Solve This?
When John was six years old he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height.
Ten years later at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher the nail was.
If the tree grew by five centimetres each year, how much higher would the nail be?
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