Source: Radio New Zealand
The owner of a business operating out of Lyall Bay says the partial lifting of the rāhui on Wellington’s South Coast has come as a “positive shock”.
The rāhui was put in place on the stretch of southern coast from Ōwhiro Bay to Breaker Bay after the Moa Point wastewater plant failed, leaving up to 70 million litres of raw sewage flowing into the sea each day at the beginning of the month.
Since then, local business had been reporting losses of up to 90 percent of their custom as people kept away from the coast in droves.
On Thursday, the council lifted the ban on swimming and gathering kai moana in the area – excluding Tarakena Bay, which was still off-limits due to its proximity to the plant’s shortfall pipe.
Lyall Bay beach in Wellington on Friday. RNZ/Bill Hickman
‘Suddenly it’s all good’
Owner operator of Wellington Sauna Project mobile saunas, Johan Balzer, said the “sudden” lifting of the rāhui caught him off guard.
“All of the information that we were being fed, it was looking like it was going to be months and months. So, in my mind, I was thinking the worst,” Balzer said.
“Suddenly, it’s all good, which is great and it’s fantastic – and I can’t wait to get back there myself – but I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of people who [might] wait a while, a few weeks, to see what it really is like,” Balzer said.
Balzer said he had previously based his sauna in Lyall Bay or Evans Bay ahead of the shutdown.
His customers typically took a plunge in the ocean to cool down and cleanse after a sauna session at the beach.
Balzer said there was an immediate 50 percent reduction in bookings in the week following the failure, despite the fact he could still operate from Evans Bay.
“Wellingtonians are a bit divided. I was looking at all the data, checking out LAWA and NEWA and they were saying that Evans Bay was good but it would still have people that – despite that information – just didn’t want to go in the ocean. But at the same time, you’ve got a lot of loyal daily swimmers out at Hataitai and they didn’t seem to be concerned,” Balzer said.
Little takes a dip
On Thursday, Wellington Mayor Andrew Little took a dip in the water to announce the lifting of the swim ban, but he said people should follow advice on the Land, Air, Water Aotearoa LAWA website before they dive in.
Wellington mayor Andrew Little swims at Lyall Bay after announcing the lifting of a swimming ban. RNZ / Mark Papalii
“We have to be realistic and practical about what we’re asking people to do. Conditions can change rapidly. There are areas where the risk remains higher, such as near the short outfall pipe at Tarakena Bay,” he said.
“A risk remains, but monitoring results so far show that it is low and it is now up to people to decide how they respond to the current information,” Little said.
Owner of Dive Wellington, Dave Drane, said he was leaving it up to diving students to decide whether they wished to swim, but his staff were happy to dive on Friday.
“[Tertiary students] will be diving across the road in Taputeranga Marine Reserve today. I’ve left it up to them, it’s their personal choice whether they want to get in the water or not. But they’re all keen to get in and see the reserve again,” Drane said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
