Swimming Water Quality

Environment Bay of Plenty monitors more than 80 popular coastal, river and lake recreation sites from November to March. The waters are tested for bacteria and toxin forming algae species.

For more information on health impacts and symptoms from accidentally coming into contact with contaminated water, please follow this link to the Toi te Ora Public Health website.

Click on the area of interest on the map below for the latest bacterial monitoring results. Move the cursor over the site for more detailed information. For further information on microbiological water quality monitoring visit our monitoring information page.

Go to our Lake Health Warnings page for information on algal blooms in our lakes and our River Health Warnings page for information on algal blooms in our rivers, or contact us on 0800 ENV BOP (368 267).

Recommendation

You should avoid swimming in rivers for 48 hours (two days) after heavy or prolonged rain. This is because the water can be contaminated by farm and urban runoff.

The Three Tier System for Swimming Water Quality

Green
Highly likely to be uncontaminated. 'Suitable' for bathing, but requiring water managers to continue surveillance (eg routine monitoring).

Amber
Potentially contaminated. 'Potentially unsuitable', requiring water managers to undertake further investigation to assess the suitability for recreation.

Red
Highly likely to be contaminated. 'Highly likely to be unsuitable', requiring urgent action from water managers, such as public warnings.