Safe swim spots

Horizons Regional Council routinely tests water quality at popular swimming spots in the Region between 1 December and 30 April each summer season. A traffic light colour code is used to indicate the health risk. There are two ways to check your favourite swim spot’s water quality:

1. Check your swimming spot results below; the traffic light code indicates the health risk.
2. Ring our Waterline number to check the quality of your favourite swimming spot – please note this is only available for some sites.

Because there is a delay between the sampling and reporting of these results it is possible the water quality has changed. We recommend you use the following rules of thumb:

• It is safest to wait three days after rain before swimming at river swimming spots
• If the water looks clean and clear, and it is a sunny day, it should be OK to swim. 

Horizons also checks blue-green algae levels at popular recreational lakes, for more information see Safe Lake Horowhenua.

Results shown are the latest readings from the 2009/10 summer monitoring

Colour code:

Site name	Category	Date
Wairarawa Stream	Green	26 April 2010
Waitarere Beach	Green	26 April 2010
Foxton Beach	Green	26 April 2010
Kaikokopu Stream	Green	26 April 2010
Himatangi Beach	Green	26 April 2010
Manawatu River Estuary	Green	26 April 2010
Castlecliff Beach	Green	26 April 2010
Mowhanau Stream @ Beach Bridge	Red	26 April 2010
Kai-Iwi Beach	Green	26 April 2010
Whanganui River @ Mosquito Point	Green	26 April 2010
Whanganui River @ Town Bridge	Green	26 April 2010
Duddings Lake	Green	26 April 2010
Lake Wiritoa	Amber	26 April 2010

Our Waterline Service

Our test results show the water quality for some swimming spots can be predicted by the water level in the related rivers. To check the quality of your swimming spot before you leave home:

1. Dial our freephone Waterline number: 0508 435 663
2. Enter the extension number (below) to hear the current water level