I had a first session at Glendowie on New Year’s Eve and apart from a face plant at the start of the session, due to loose straps on the kite board, it went well. Three hour later as I got out of the shower, I collapsed with uncontrollable shivers and a high fever; I felt cold but was actually burning up. I spent a night in hospital and I had four litres of saline pumped into me. I have a severe case of gastenteritus and have had an anti nausea drug injected into my veins.
I was always aware of the dangers of untreated sewage, which is regularly pumped into the sea in the Auckland area and this was a real wake up call. Such a shame because it looks a beautiful location with both chop and flat water. I will probably think twice before kiting here again.

Holy cow, u spent NY's in hospital? i hope ur nurse was a hotty to make up for it
!

Real bad luck there to have happened yesterday of all days and r u sure it was caused from something in the sea water and not a dodgy indian lunch?

Ive kited at Glendowie alot and havent had anything similar happen

Hope u get to go out today.. its looking so good

Feeling a bit weak and need a few days to recover, having said that i'll probably kite Glendowie again but will try and not swallow. Happy new Year

Pollution hits Northland tourist sites 30/12/2010 - NZ Herald (I know this is in the North but Auckland has alot more people and a lot more sewage

People visiting the Kerikeri Basin near the Stone Store - one of Northland's iconic tourism and heritage sites - could come face-to-face with a sign warning them the water is polluted.

The public are being warned not to swim at a raft of Northland locations after they failed water-quality testing the week before Christmas.

The Kerikeri Basin is one of them. There is such widespread failure of freshwater quality after the recent rain that district councils are not putting up warning signs at some sites.

Half the 28 tested returned high enough readings of E. coli bacteria to be declared unsafe. The 14 failed sites, mainly freshwater streams, had E. coli counts of more than 550/100ml water. Others received orange-alert warnings for levels above 260/100ml.

Also failing the safety test in the Far North were Ahipara by the motor camp, Skudders Beach, Aurere Beach stream, Coopers Beach stream, the Kapiro Bridge-Pururua Rd stream, Tirohanga Stream, Taipa, Opononi, Twin Bridges, Victoria River, Otaua Stream, Waipapa basin at Charlie's Rock and Waitangi Bridge.

In Whangarei, red cards apply to Ocean Beach stream, Otamure Bay stream, Waipu Cove Stream, Ruakaka Stream, Matapouri Bay bridges, Kowharewa Bay, Ngunguru Motor Camp and Ohawini Bay.

Several others including Whangarei Falls and Raumanga Stream have orange alerts.

Unfortunate as it is that popular spots are marred by pollution, the warnings are necessary "and at least honest", says eco-tourism operator Jeroen Jongejans.

"Everybody is upset about this, not just councils and tourism operators but everybody who wants to believe in a clean, green Northland," he said.

"I think that 20 years ago, we had a worse problem but we didn't know about it then. Now we're demanding higher standards and more action.

"We're working on it but there is no quick fix. The reality is you'd find similar results anywhere there were animals and humans," said Mr Jongejans, who is on the Northland Conservation Board, Whangarei District Council and the Tourism Development Group.

Medical officer of health Jonathan Jarman was out of the district and asked for time to examine the results before commenting.

Swimming in contaminated water can cause skin, eye and ear infections and stomach and respiratory illnesses. Bacteria can be swallowed or inhaled and can also enter the body through cuts and scrapes.

People should avoid swimming in freshwater streams two to three days after heavy rain.

Wellington Harbour warning after sewage discharge Herald 29/12/20210

Swimmers and other users of Wellington Harbour and waters off Wellington's South Coast are being warned to stay out of the water for another 24 hours following sewage contamination caused by yesterday's heavy rain.

Pollution-warning signs had been erected in Lyall Bay and around Moa Point after sewage, heavily diluted by stormwater, was discharged down the long outfall from the Moa Point treatment plant at the height of the storm, Wellington City Council said today.

Regional Public Health Medical Officer of Health Dr Stephen Palmer said caution was the best approach and recommended that people not swim in coastal recreational waters near urban areas for 48 hours after heavy rainfall because of possible health effects from stormwater and sewage overflow contamination.

The council, in conjunction with Regional Public Health, has done water-quality sampling and will continue to do so over the next few days.

Sorry to hear about that. Thats a new take on Kitemare! What a way to break in the new year.

DeanoBeano wrote:



Untreated sewerage is NOT regularly pumped into the Auckland Harbours, this is a grossly inaccurate statement. After heavey rainfall events the sewerage system can become unable to cope with the increased load due to stormwater infiltration and/or combined sewerage/stormwater systems and does overflow into the harbour. It is then dilute from typical raw sewerage, however is still a threat to public health. I'm sorry to hear it has affected you in such an extreme way.

Generally at most swimming beaches (i.e. Takapuna / St heliers / orewa) warning signs will be put up by the council if major overflows have been experienced...unfortunately some of the areas we kite are not "popular swimming beaches" and may not have signs put up.

There is a fairly sizable pump station upstream of the Tamaki Spit, similarly the Meola / Cox's bay and Point Chev areas are also particularly susceptable to large overflows from the sewerage system.

To help yourselves, either wait a tide cycle or two after the rainfall event, and/or ensure your shots are up-to-date hep A / hep B, typhiod, etc.. similar to your classic "travelling" imunisation shots.

Lastly, vote for rates increases, the money goes to continuing to improve our infrastructure, everytime there's a rates dcrease/freeze etc... projects are simply push back a number of years, meaning more regular overflows at a risk to you.

Take care everyone!

Quote - Untreated sewerage is NOT regularly pumped into the Auckland Harbours, this is a grossly inaccurate statement.

Marine sewage discharge continues to be a problem in the Auckland area. - the floaters are not only boats

NZ Herald 2007 - Auckland's water quality the worst in the country

The water quality of Auckland'sivers and streams is improving, although it is still the worst in the country and has some "ugly hotspots", says the Auckland Regional Council.

The council has issued a river water quality report based on data collected over 10 years from 25 sites.

The council's monitoring and research group manager, Grant Barnes, said there were some encouraging trends in the majority of the region's rivers.

Nutrients, suspended sediments and faecal bacteria indicators had decreased, which was a positive sign as they were major contributors to poor water quality, he said.

Mr Barnes said it was not clear what had caused the improvements, but it could be partly explained by the installation of storm water ponds which allowed sediment to settle before water was discharged.

He said the downward trend in suspended sediments was particularly welcome as sediment affected not only the rivers but caused problems in harbours.

But although sediment levels were reducing in streams, the Auckland region still had the highest levels in the country.

Many of the region's streams had high concentrations of nutrients and suspended sediments, and high levels of faecal coliform bacteria.

"There is still room for improvement when we compare our streams with the national standards."

The average visibility in Auckland streams was 0.6m, followed by Waikato with 1.1m. Nelson had the best water visibility of 4.7m.

Mr Barnes said the report had highlighted some ugly hotspots which consistently exceeded health guidelines.

Site by site investigations would be needed to ascertain the cause of the problems, he said.

Mr Barnes said the waterways were not used for recreation but "don't look the best".

They had been rated using several indicators including conductivity, faecal coliforms, nitrate, acidity, suspended sediment, temperature and turbidity.

Mr Barnes said the five sites which scored the worst in terms of water quality were all in the Tamaki catchment, reflecting the urban and industrial land use in the area.

The Omaru Creek in Glen Innes had the worst water quality in the survey, just ahead of creeks in Pakuranga and Otaki.

Mr Barnes said the sites which showed up as the clearest and cleanest were in bush-clad areas such as the Cascade stream in the Waitakere Regional Park.

He said waterways in rural areas were showing improvements as residential developments expanded. These reduiced the effect of nutrients, sediment and faecal bacteria from intensive agriculture.

Mr Barnes said the regional trends also showed a warming of water temperatures which could be some indication of a warming climate.
By Angela Gregory | Email Angela

i usually avoid the spit cos the wind is normally crap when i kite there (goes westerly or dies out) and i'm a bit of a lazy sod so would rather kite PH (which prob has worse pollution than the sandspit). Never had any issues with germs at Tamaki Sandspit but agree that its not the best water to drink... none of the beaches around auckland are. best heading to west coast or even Manukau Harbour (yep thats right ) if you want good quality water.

ps in Brisbane at da mo and the brown water here (from the floods) is making me feel like i'm still in akl. except that over here ppl (ie other kiters) are threatening to call the police if your caught kiting at local spots cos of the debree and pollution etc

lets also remember theres about 50 billion life forms in the sea shitting on a regular basis...... for some reason tho i would be more offended if i accidentally swallowed someone elses poo as apposed to a fish poo.

i think the lesson to be learned here is that the wind gods have punnished deano for doing too much kiting while the rest of us work.....

Stop kiting so much deano the rest of us are jelious!.

YEAH!! to much kiting!!!

ur a veggie anyway and shouldn't be drinking the see water! it full of micro fishies!!