Skip to main content.

Compliance of monitored freshwater swimming spots for the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 summers

Over the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 summers, 58 per cent of the 300 monitored freshwater swimming spots had water quality that met the almost all of the time (ie, at least 95 per cent of the samples taken at these sites had safe E. coli levels).

Eight per cent of the sites breached the guidelines regularly (ie, more than 25 per cent of the samples taken from these sites were non-compliant), indicating that these sites often have poor water quality and are unsuitable for swimming.

Compliance of monitored freshwater swimming spots with for the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 summers

The map shows the monitoring results of the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 summers season for water quality in lakes and rivers for contact recreation.

The map uses a colour guide to show the proportion of samples from each testing site that comply with guidelines for safe levels of E. coli for contact recreation (ie, swimming).

The five classes are:

  1. not sufficiently sampled
  2. 95 to 100 per cent of samples comply (ie, water quality is suitable for swimming almost all the time)
  3. 90 to less than 95 per cent of samples comply
  4. 75 to less than 90 per cent of samples comply
  5. less than 75 per cent of samples comply (ie, water quality is often unsuitable for swimming).

The map shows that sites are distributed throughout the country with good and poor sites appearing in every region. The poorest sites generally appear close to the coast (ie, they are downstream sites in lowland areas).

View the average compliance with the guidelines for the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 summers in this spreadsheet.

Notes:
(1) Based on data from 300 sites that had at least 10 samples collected over the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 summers in total.

(2) Compliance with the is based on the threshold of 550 E. coli per 100 millilitres of water sampled. Source: Data collected by regional, city and district councils and collated by Ministry for the Environment.

(3) There are other contaminants which can make recreational sites unsafe to swim at (eg, toxins from algal blooms). These other contaminants are not covered by this monitoring.

Want to know more?

Latest recreational water quality results for coastal sites in your area

The snapshot report on coastal recreational water quality for 2003 to 2009 has more detail on:

  • what affects coastal water quality
  • the associated public health risks
  • how samples are collected
  • what sites are monitored
  • accessing data for beaches in your area
  • what the results mean.

The above information has come from the snapshot report on recreational water quality and Environment New Zealand 2007.

Return to the compliance of water quality at freshwater swimming spots with guidelines page.

Last updated: 29 June 2009