Puarenga Stream water quality investigation

Bay of Plenty Regional Council is investigating recent complaints about the water quality of Puarenga Stream.

Final results and conclusions of the investigation are due in approximately two months.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Water and Science Support Manager Rob Donald said that a number of actions are planned by the Council to investigate the situation.

“We will be carrying out more sampling and undertaking source tracking which we hope will give us a clear picture of any contamination and where it might be coming from,” Mr Donald said.

“Additional sampling results already obtained confirm that there will be not be any change to the current swimming status of Puarenga Stream which is rated as ‘Poor’,” he said.

Swimming water quality grading is based on bacterial levels and potential contamination sources in the catchment. The Puarenga Stream has been graded as ‘Poor’ for several years.

“We are working closely with Toi Te Ora – Public Health Service to ensure people are aware of the swimming status of the stream,” he said.

Mr Donald confirmed that results from stream sediment near the Whakarewarewa bridge and at the Hemo Gorge did not detect any Pentachlorophenol (PCP).

“Low levels of arsenic and mercury were detected near the bridge but this is consistent with geothermal areas,” he said.