THE COUNTRY | Environment Bay of Plenty’s popular poo-contaminated swim spots revealed 21 Jan, 2019 7:53am 4 minutes to read Some of the Bay of Plenty’s most popular swimming spots are considered too unsafe to swim in but that has not stopped hordes of people going for a dip in faecally-contaminated waters this summer.
Data from Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA) shows seven Bay swimming spots, including Kaiate Falls in Welcome Bay, have warnings advising people to stay out of the water.
Other "unsafe" areas are Pukehina at Waihī Estuary boat ramp, Lake Ōkaro, Lake Rotoehu at Otautu Bay and Kennedy Bay, Ngongotahā Stream, Utuhina Stream and Uretara River.
"There were warning signs but we took the risk.
Warnings are issued by Toi Te Ora Public Health which, with Bay of Plenty Regional Council, monitors the region’s waterways for bacteria levels such as E.coli within every two weeks.
Local waterways are regularly tested by councils and if contamination levels are above the threshold "then we issue a warning".
Both Ingle and Shoemack said regardless of health warnings, people should avoid swimming for at least two to three days after heavy or prolonged rain – especially if you cannot see your toes in calf-deep water.
More than $30 million was spent annually toward improving the Bay’s water quality, including work with landowners and community groups to identify and mitigate E. coli hotspots such as Kaiate Falls, Uretara Stream and Waiōtahe Estuary.
"Through [the] council’s work with Fonterra and local landowners over the past year, 16 Farm Environment Plans are now being put into action in the Waiōtahe catchment."
These days the water, like at Kaiate Falls, is "unsafe".

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP — Officials issued an emergency boil-water order Saturday after a disturbance in the township’s largest well led to a gray discharge in the water system.
Effective immediately, the order said homeowners should "vigorously and completely" boil any water meant for human consumption for a full minute past the moment it begins to bubble continuously.
"This is to mitigate any microbial pathogen contamination," said the order, which was released by the township water utility.
It also asked residents to conserve water, which will likely have a gray discoloration for several days until clear water flushes it from the system.
One of the town’s main wells broke Saturday as the storm approached, and water sampling and repairs will have to wait until after the weekend, Mayor Michael Puzio said.
“The problem is in the well field with a pump that appears to have a hole in the casing, creating a stirring effect for sediments, which is why the water appears to be cloudy,” said Township Council President Tucker Kelley.
“Tomorrow a contracted company will come to scope the line.” The utility is working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to determine what caused the issues and what measures will fix it, the order said.
Updates will be posted to the town’s website.
Puzio said the testing and repairs will take place regardless of Monday’s holiday.
Report coming soon

West Vancouver police are alerting residents about suspicious robocalls offering water testing at homes.
Several residents reported to the West Vancouver Police Department that they were receiving automated calls featuring a recorded voice claiming that Lower Mainland water supplies have been found to have been contaminated with lead and that crews will be in the area to provide residential water testing.
The District of West Vancouver confirmed in a news release on January 16 that there hasn’t been any contamination in city water supplies, adding that the calls claim to be from someone purportedly working for the District of West Vancouver and that residents must schedule an appointment for water testing.
Both West Vancouver Police and the District of West Vancouver are advising residents not to allow any individuals to attend or enter their homes under this pretense or anyone who is not expected.
Anyone who receives such calls or witnesses related activity is asked to call West Vancouver Police at 604-925-7300.

Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown, who has been fighting for clean water to drink in the area for more than a decade, said one of her two jobs takes her to an after-school program adjacent to the Harrietsfield school.
But kids have different-sized bottles.
The measures include permanent signage reminders advising students that tap water is not suitable for drinking, and supervision to ensure students don’t drink it.
She said there are no water fountains in the school and bottled water is provided.
“A couple of residents who live out here, they started a ‘We Need Water, Heave Steve’ (sign campaign), against our councillor, Steve Adams.” Wayne Rhyno fears for the health of the 162 students at Harrietsfield Elementary School.
Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown, who has been fighting for clean water to drink in the area for more than a decade, said one of her two jobs takes her to an after-school program adjacent to the Harrietsfield school.
But kids have different-sized bottles.
The measures include permanent signage reminders advising students that tap water is not suitable for drinking, and supervision to ensure students don’t drink it.
She said there are no water fountains in the school and bottled water is provided.
“A couple of residents who live out here, they started a ‘We Need Water, Heave Steve’ (sign campaign), against our councillor, Steve Adams.”

If your tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.
Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or use bottled water.
Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker.
Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled.
Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.
The advisory took effect on January 17, 2019 and will remain in effect until the conditions that placed the system at risk of bacterial contamination are resolved.
KDHE officials issued the advisory because of a loss of pressure.
Failure to maintain adequate pressure may result in a loss of chlorine residuals and bacterial contamination.
Regardless of whether the public water supplier or KDHE announced a boil water advisory, only KDHE can issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.
If you have questions, please contact the water system or you may call KDHE at 785-296-5795.

Imperial Beach Braces for Polluted Flooding Nearly every time it rains on the south side of the U.S.-Mexico border, beach activity in Imperial Beach comes to a stop as contaminated runoff washes onto its shorelines.
North-flowing currents push and spread the contaminants across south county shorelines and force days-long water contact closures.
Week-long rains have already forced the closure of shorelines as far north as Coronado State Beach, but now IB is bracing for something even more hazardous.
The big surf will almost certainly push sewage-contaminated ocean water into IB streets.
“Not with these signs posted.
Not with a wetsuit.
Not with a full beanie and booties.
The thought of that water making its way into city streets makes him, and Mayor Serge Dedina, uneasy.
The plaintiffs claim the federal government isn’t doing enough to stop the contaminated water from reaching U.S. waterways.
While Dedina monitors the situation with the federal government, he’s also hyper-focused at the local level.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will take up a series of legal disputes that could have far-reaching implications for state regulators’ power to protect public waters from pollution and overuse.
A state appeals court panel asked the high court Wednesday to settle 10 lawsuits over natural resources, which have been consolidated into two cases, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
The high court’s rulings will determine the balance of power between lawmakers and state regulators.
The cases stem from conservationists wanting to preserve the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ authority to protect public water rights and enforce clean water standards.
But business groups are pushing to keep power in the hands of elected politicians who can be held accountable if the state goes too far and harms profits.
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#ReadLocal One of the cases that the Supreme Court will review challenges the DNR’s decision to allow a dairy farm to expand a feedlot in Kewaunee County, an area with manure-contaminated drinking water.
Another group of lawsuits objects to the agency approving permits for farms to make large-scale withdrawals of groundwater.
Parts of the state have seen drinking water become contaminated by farm runoff, or lakes and streams dry up from nearby farmers pumping from groundwater.
Agricultural runoff of manure and fertilizer into public waters also can lead to unnatural growths of weeds and bacteria that can close beaches and harm fish.

A Poway landowner has filed a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the city for allegedly failing to adhere to water pollution control permits in the Lake Poway area along the trails leading to Mount Woodson and Potato Chip Rock.
Poway City Attorney Allen Fenstermacher on Tuesday said the city denies all claims made in the suit and will file a response next month.
He said the plaintiff, Kevin T. Kelly, filed the suit after the city rejected his request to purchase his property.
After the winter storms of 2017 caused the destruction of a series of dirt-backfilled culverts along the hiking trails and roads that cross over the seasonal stream feeding Lake Poway, city staff allegedly failed to obtain the proper permits from the Army Corp of Engineers and the San Diego Water Board for the rebuilding efforts, according to the lawsuit, filed in federal court.
The lawsuit alleges that the city failed to properly calculate the amount of water that can surge and flow through the creek during wetter years.
While in the process of setting up a mitigation bank to preserve the ecological values of his 43 acres in Warren Canyon in perpetuity, he said he discovered that that the city has been trying to remove Clean Water Act jurisdiction for Lake Poway and Warren Canyon as the Trump Administration redefines jurisdictional waters.
The suit asks, among other things, the city be ordered to purchase Kelly’s property.
Regarding the suit, Fenstermacher said “We analyzed it.
He said Kelly was asking $2.8 million for his property.
Email: editor@pomeradonews.com

Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown, who has been fighting for clean water to drink in the area for more than a decade, said one of her two jobs takes her to an after-school program adjacent to the Harrietsfield school.
But kids have different-sized bottles.
The measures include permanent signage reminders advising students that tap water is not suitable for drinking, and supervision to ensure students don’t drink it.
She said there are no water fountains in the school and bottled water is provided.
“A couple of residents who live out here, they started a ‘We Need Water, Heave Steve’ (sign campaign), against our councillor, Steve Adams.” Wayne Rhyno fears for the health of the 162 students at Harrietsfield Elementary School.
Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown, who has been fighting for clean water to drink in the area for more than a decade, said one of her two jobs takes her to an after-school program adjacent to the Harrietsfield school.
But kids have different-sized bottles.
The measures include permanent signage reminders advising students that tap water is not suitable for drinking, and supervision to ensure students don’t drink it.
She said there are no water fountains in the school and bottled water is provided.
“A couple of residents who live out here, they started a ‘We Need Water, Heave Steve’ (sign campaign), against our councillor, Steve Adams.”

Residents in Bucks and Montgomery Counties who participated in a blood-testing program because their drinking water was contaminated by chemicals on nearby military bases have a dramatically higher presence of some chemicals in their blood than the general U.S. population — in the case of one chemical, five times more than the typical American.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health mailed the averaged results to the 235 residents in Horsham, Warminster, and Warrington Townships who participated in the testing program, which was completed at the end of September.
In the Bucks-Montgomery area, the chemicals have also been found in lower amounts in several surrounding municipalities.
The average for one type of PFAS, known as PFHxS, in the Pennsylvania residents sampled was 7.63 micrograms per liter — more than five times the national average.
"It is important to remember that scientists are not sure about the health effects of human exposure to PFAS and do not know what these levels mean, if anything, in terms of affecting your health now or later in life," the letter stated.
The agency has not set any guidelines for how much chemical is cause for concern in the human bloodstream, although a draft of a federal study released during the summer proposes a level of the chemicals that is safe for humans to ingest.
The EPA’s drinking-water guideline has also been contested by some experts, and the Horsham, Warrington and Warminster water agencies sought undetectable levels of the chemicals when cleaning their water supplies.
Last year, New Jersey set its own safe drinking-water level, much lower than the EPA’s.
Wolf has made recent pledges to address PFAS, and a state action team is set to publicly meet in Harrisburg on Friday.
The results here showed lower amounts of the chemical in the blood of those tested than for residents of the Hoosick Falls, N.Y., area, but higher than or similar to some results for residents in the Pease Tradeport region of New Hampshire, both places where blood testing has been conducted by state agencies for the same contaminants.