Purity tests for Picton water

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 14

Purity tests for Picton water

The classification of Picton Harbour will be investigated jointly by the Water Resources Council and the Marlborough Regional Water Board.

The council has already considered some suggested classifications — the setting of minimum water quality standards — from the board, but it has decided to set up a sub-committee to investigate the classifications further.

The board’s suggestions were based on a quality survey of fresh and salt water resources around Picton.

In these, Picton Harbour and Shakespeare Bay (except the area around the sewage outfalls of the borough and the freezing works) have

been classed SB; and SA class has been used for the outer harbour and Waikawa Bay. SB is the minimum standard for recreational uses like swimming, and SA is the highest class of salt water, usually applied where shellfish are collected. The board proposed class SE — a special provision for remote ocean outfalls discharging raw sewage — for the area around the waste discharge points for Picton and the freezing works. Classes were also proposed for the streams in the area, the most important of which are the Waitohi and the Waikawa. The condition of Waitohi stream was unsatisfactory and should be improved, said the board.