Some beaches badly polluted

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33995, 8 November 1975, Page 18

Some beaches badly polluted

Some of the bathing beaches of Pegasus Bay •are becoming severely [polluted by faecal waste being discharged into the Waimakariri River. The worst affected areas are between Pines Beach anc Spencer Park, where watei quality tests have establishec that on occasions faecal pollution levels exceed the standards set by classification for bathing waters in the area.

The chairman of the North • Canterbury Catchment Board I (Dr W. R. Holmes) referred Ito the pollution in his annual [report to the board yester--1 day. He said that the pollution of the Waimakariri River ; had had its sequel on the Lbeaches of the bay. As a re-) ’I suit it was probable that I those discharging wastes into ■ the river and its tributaries J would have to install tertiary i i treatment systems. : This would enable them to meet water standards on the • bathing beaches in addition to the treatment they were , already required to provide ) to meet specific standards in [ the rivers at the points of) ) discharge. ) Generally, he said, pol- . lution of the river continued to be one of the main causes 1 of concern to the board. There was still no immedi,iate prospect of any improveJment in the heavy pollution ; occurring from the freezing ; works and small industrial : plants along the south side I of the south branch of the Waimakariri.