Poor water quality in the Manuherekia River at Alexandra’s Shaky Bridge over the past fortnight has prompted further investigations of the contamination.

Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA) tests sites around the country weekly from December 1 to March 15, and the popular Alexandra swimming spot has been in the spotlight.

Elevated levels of E.Coli has meant the river was currently unsuitable for swimming and the Otago Regional Council (ORC) has done some further testing as a result.

Scientist – Water Quality Helen Trotter said a further sample of the river was taken at the end of last week, following a high result on Monday, January 8.

Results of that second test will be known today so make sure to check the results on the Central App.

The ORC has also requested microbial source tracking analysis, which aims to identify specific sources of the E. coli in the sample; such as ruminant, human or avian.

However, results of microbial source tracking analysis take some time and Helen said they didn’t have a delivery date for those.

The Central App was now on the email notification list for the updates and will let readers know as soon as they become available.

The highest E.Coli rating per 100ml value since monitoring began five years ago has been recorded as 2420, with levels over 540 considered high.

From the eights samples this summer, 50% of the time the river was suitable for swimming, 25% of the time caution was advised and 25% it was unsuitable.

Potentially toxic algae can also rapidly bloom to harmful levels, and not all freshwater sites were monitored for it.

LAWA also checks Lake Dunstan at Alpha St in Cromwell, the Clyde Rowing Club, the Clutha River/Mata-Au at Dunorling St, Pinders Pond and the Taieri River at Waipiata.  

There have been no other issues at other sites.