A government website nicknamed the “poo tracker” in New Zealand has revealed the extent of sewage pollution on some of the country’s most popular beaches, with 16 spots closed long-term in the Auckland region due to water quality issues.

The website Safeswim was launched in November last year and predicts and tracks the safety of Auckland waterways in real time.

It allows Aucklanders to pick which beach is safe to swim at, following decades of pollution and contamination plaguing the waterways of the country’s largest city and its 1.4m residents.



An animated map shows contaminated water spreading for a number of kilometres off-shore, laden with bacteria such as e coli and cryptosporidium that can cause gastroenteritis, respiratory illnesses and ear, eye and skin infections.

The detailed animation comes on the back of a number of significant beach closures this holiday period, including the shutdown of one of Auckland’s most popular swimming spots, Takapuna beach, on New Year’s Day due to contamination.

Last summer 10 beaches were shut down over the holiday period in the Auckland region due to human or animal faecal contamination.

The Auckland mayor, Phil Goff, said the ongoing pollution issues were unacceptable. “It’s not a new problem. Stormwater has been causing wastewater overflows into our harbours for a century. However for a world-class city in the 21st century which is what Auckland aspires to be, this is no longer acceptable,” Goff wrote in the New Zealand Herald.

“Current planning and investment levels in our storm and wastewater systems mean poor water quality will persist for 30 years.”



Overflows into the harbour have been recorded after more than 5mm of rain, which some parts of Auckland with poor wastewater infrastructure experience between 50 and 100 times a year.

Auckland council’s water manager Andrew Chin told RNZ that it was not only raw sewage being flushed into the city’s waterways but solid items that don’t break down.

“With that wastewater will also come all of the gross pollutants – the litter, the dental picks and tampons, the quite unmentionables that flow in,” Chin said.

Chin added that the rehabilitation of London’s Thames proved contaminated waterways could be improved.

Water contamination is a nationwide issue, with the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, vowing to clean up the country’s rivers and lakes to a “swimmable state” within a decade, saying clean water is “the birthright” of all New Zealanders.