Waitara River at Town Wharf
The site is situated in the lower tidal reaches of this large river, around 2km upstream of the river mouth. There are consented treated waste discharges from dairy ponds in the catchment upstream of the site, particularly in the Manganui River sub catchment.
This site is used for swimming, whitebaiting (in season), fishing, walking and boating.
Please note that water quality can change depending on weather. Don't swim if the water is murky or smells unpleasant. Taranaki Regional Council advises not to swim within three days of heavy or prolonged rainfall, even at sites that usually have good water quality.
There are consented dairy ponds treated wastes discharges in the catchment upstream of the site, particularly in the Manganui River sub catchment.
Recreational bathing surveys over the last two summers 85% (2018-2019) and 83% (2019-2020) of samples met the freshwater microbiological water quality guidelines prepared by the Ministry of Environment in conjunction with the Ministry of Health (MfE, 2003) and did not exceed the ‘Action’ level (>550 E.coli cfu/100mls).
The State of the Environment technical report showing the freshwater recreational monitoring results is available at
www.trc.govt.nz/environmental-monitoring-technical-reports/
