The incredibly popular Kaiteriteri Beach in Tasman has had its water quality downgraded to “poor” after exceeding faecal bacteria standards too many times during the last swimming season.
The downgrade is unrelated to recent flooding in the area, with the faecal indicator bacteria – enterococci – being traced to a stormwater pipe which drains onto the beach.
Between November 2024 and February 2025, 22 water samples were taken from the sea about 60 metres south of the pipe. Of the samples, 18 were within the guidelines set by the Ministries for the Environment and of Health.
But two exceeded the “alert” level, and a further two exceeded the higher “alarm” level, with only one of those four exceedances occurring during wet weather.
Councillor Trindi Walker was concerned by the downgrade when presented with the information on Thursday.
She wondered about the impact it might have on the popular destination next summer, especially when a local campground was already recovering from flooding during the recent severe weather.
“Bethany [Park] got nailed,” Walker said. “They believe they’ll get back up ready to run for Christmas. I’m just wondering where that leaves Kaiteri with the water quality for people to even want to come back and camp there.”
It was important that the council found a solution, she added.
Trevor James, a senior scientist for freshwater and estuary ecology at the council, reassured the council that the water quality at Kaiteriteri Beach was generally “very good” and it was primarily the area around the stormwater pipe which had poor water quality.
“From our sampling in the past, the southern part of the beach has very, very high compliance with the water quality guidelines, so we do need to put that in context.
“It was only three [fine-weather] exceedances over 22 samples, so the vast majority of the time the Kaiteriteri is compliant.”
The council was planning to adopt an additional sampling site next summer further south of the existing sampling site where water quality was expected to be better.
Of the 11 samples taken at the stormwater pipe over the swimming season, two were at the “alert” level and nine were at the higher “alarm” level.
Council staff considered there was a “reasonable likelihood” that the stormwater was being contaminated because of uncontrolled discharges into the network through open grates in the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve campground.
In December, the council received a report of a freedom camper emptying their blackwater into one of the roadside sumps that feed into the stormwater drain.
The council’s group manager for environmental assurance, Kim Drummond, said that the report couldn’t be substantiated, but the council had quickly responded to pump out the sump.
Signage had already been erected around the campground earlier that year to dissuade people from dumping down the open grates.
However, the council says that the grates are often hidden from view by campers, and so there could easily be unnoticed dumping occurring.
The council was continuing to investigate solutions, such as re-routing the outlet of the stormwater pipe so it didn’t drain onto the beach, or installing solid covers over the grates.
The organisation also continued to engage with the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve, Health New Zealand, and other stakeholders about the issue.
Declining water quality at Kaiteriteri last raised alarm bells at the council in September 2024 after it was revealed the beach had seen three exceedances during the 2023/24 season.
Nearby Stephens Bay Lagoon has seen a decrease in the number of exceedances of the faecal bacteria guidelines compared to last season, indicating that its water quality at the site could be beginning to improve.
Elsewhere around the district, Pōhara Beach has been upgraded to “good” quality after seeing three seasons without any exceedances of the guidelines.
Beach water quality tends to be the highest on the incoming tide, and people are advised not to swim during nor within 48 hours of rain.
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
