Media Releases

October 2002

30 October
Water quality online

15 October
Kids (de)sign for creek safety

15 October
Waitakere City wants better deal on health and Painted Apple Moth costs

9 October
Quality of Life survey

30 October 2002

Water quality online

Weekly water quality testing at Waitakere City’s most popular beaches and swimming spots begins next month.

Results will be available on the Council’s website or by phoning the Council’s 24-hour Call Centre, allowing residents and visitors to get updated water quality data before heading out to local beaches this summer. 

Conducted in accordance with the latest Ministry for the Environment microbiological water quality guidelines, weekly testing will be carried out from the beginning of November to the end of March and will return to monthly testing outside that period.

Test results will fall into one of three categories; Safe to Swim (meaning the water quality complies with ministry guidelines), Elevated Level Safe to Swim (meaning the water quality falls between the minimum and maximum desired levels, but further investigation is required to assess whether a problem exists) or Swimming Not Recommended (meaning a health risk exists and warning signs will be erected advising the public not to swim).

“We want to be sure that the water quality at the City’s most popular beaches and recreational areas consistently meets ministry guidelines and that any changes to water quality around our coastline is identified,” says Cr Penny Hulse, chair of the Council’s Environmental Management Committee. 

For more information contact us.

15 October

Kids (de)sign for creek safety

Massey’s Huruhuru Creek may be a step closer to being a safer place as a result of local school children taking part in a competition to design warning signs for the area.

The safety sign competition is the latest initiative of the Huruhuru Creek Water Safety Task Group, which was established in 2001 to investigate ways of reducing the risk of child drownings in the area. Three young people have drowned in the creek in the last decade.

The task group currently comprises Waitakere City Councillor Gary Russell, Massey Community Board members Karen Perri and Jean Webster, Council staff and representatives of Safe Waitakere and WaterSafe Auckland.

Council staff will be visiting Year 7 and 8 pupils at Birdwood and Don Buck primary schools during KidSafe Week (October 14-21) to talk about dangers of the Huruhuru Creek area and encourage them to take part in the sign competition. 

Given $5000 funding by the Massey Community Board, the sign competition follows the success of a water safety information pack, which was distributed to 2000 children in the area last summer. Maori and Pacific Island translations were also available.

“Community safety and the need to provide a safe environment for children are key strategic priorities for the Council,” Councillor Russell says.

“But since fencing the area to restrict access to the water is impractical, we considered the next best option was to get school children involved with designing safety signage they could understand and relate to. The competition adds a bit more fun to the exercise, while also helping to raise awareness of water safety issues and providing information that could save a young life.

For more information on the competition contact us or visit the KidSafe website.

15 October

Waitakere City wants better deal on health and Painted Apple Moth costs

Waitakere City Council has served notice that it isn’t happy about plans to deal with the Painted Apple Moth.

“We accept the Cabinet decision that eradication is necessary and we accept that aerial spraying is inevitable. But, that being the case, the Government should double the budget to pay for the health and other consequences that this city will suffer,” says Cr Penny Hulse, chair of the council’s Environmental Management Committee.

“There’s going to be a major impact on this city. Eradication will impose significant costs on the council and therefore our ratepayers. The impact of the operation on our community must be fully costed and understood and only then can the Government set an appropriate budget,” Councillor Hulse says.

Cr Hulse said that as part of the eradication programme, MAF was cutting down hectares of wattles and the Council would have to act quickly to revegetate the area to prevent erosion and the invasion of environmentally destructive weeds. 

“There’s about $1million worth or work to be done. We understand that it has to be done but we have planned to do it progressively over a number of years. However we are faced doing it all at once and paying for it all at once - and that is not acceptable ,” Cr Hulse says.

“The Government should pick up the tab for work associated with the programme and it simply isn’t good enough for the Government to give MAF enough money to kill the bug, but not enough to deal with all the issues and all the collateral damage, surrounding the operation”, she says.

“Finally and most importantly there is the health issue. Fairly or unfairly, Waitakere people don’t feel their health issues have been handled well so far and they don’t feel they have been listened to and respected. That has to change and we want to work with MAF and local health providers to create an independent and credible system, that is locally based and that people can have faith in", Cr Hulse says.

Mr Murray Sherwin, the Director General of MAF, told the Council last week that he would be prepared to work with the Council to address problems and make representations to the Government.

See more information on the Painted Apple Moth.

9 October

Quality of Life survey

Over the next few weeks, 500 residents in Waitakere will be asked for their views on the quality of life in big cities.

The telephone survey is being carried out in each of New Zealand’s eight largest cities - Waitakere, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Manukau, North Shore, and Wellington cities.

It is an integral part of the “Big Cities Quality of Life” project launched by the Prime Minister Helen Clark last year. 

As the first of its kind in New Zealand the survey is a joint effort by New Zealand’s largest cities and will contribute to the wealth of information that forms the Quality of Life report. Survey participants will be asked for their perception on issues facing their neighbourhoods, and cities, including public transport, their participation in Local Government, cultural diversity and their own health, well being and safety.

"Too many people miss out in our cities and this is about collecting data on what people need to live better lives and feel more part of our community” says Garry Moore Mayor Christchurch City and Chair of the country’s Metro Mayors Group.

"This information will drive social policy. A lot of what will make a difference is basic stuff -- are the schools in the right place, how many of our young people are leaving school without any qualifications and why? It's simple things but they need to be pulled together. ” 

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey agrees: “This is about getting the perceptions of real New Zealanders and the issues they face. By giving us 20 minutes of their time people will make a real contribution to the way their cities develop.”

The Quality of Life report was instigated after years of concern shared by local governments about the impacts of growth and a need to better understand the effects of ongoing urbanisation. The report brought together for the first time indicators that reflect the level of social well-being and include not only the usual indicators such as health, housing and education but also those that measure economic, environmental and community governance. 

“We want and need people to take part in the survey. If phoned in the next few weeks people can contribute to a very important project helping Local and Central Government develop policies and legislation to benefit of all New Zealanders, ” says Mayor Harvey.