Warning – Wairoa River

Wairoa District Council Environment Officer, Victor Minter, today issued a warning, advising members of the public not to swim or to gather fish in the Wairoa river.

Mr Minter says, “the Wairoa District Council put signs up late Friday afternoon along the river bank as a precautionary measure as the bar had been blocked for three days.”

“We notified the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board on Friday as to the situation.”

“The Regional Council has been testing and monitoring water quality in the river and although the latest results show that bacterial levels do not yet pose a risk, the potential for further bacterial build up remains”, Mr Minter says.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council have advised that if the conditions are right, they will seek to unblock the bar by tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.

Further sampling will be undertaken by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Wairoa District Council. The warning will be lifted when the results of these further samples are acceptable.

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