Ballina Shire beaches get a clean bill of health
Beaches in the Ballina Shire Council area have received an excellent report card, with most sites tested passing National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) swimming water quality guidelines throughout the 2006-2007 summer season, according to results released by Ballina Shire Council and the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation’s Beachwatch Program.
Beachwatch Manager Cris Hickey said that all of the swimming locations passed national guidelines during November and December for faecal coliforms and enterococci, the bacterial indicators used to assess swimming water quality.
Seven out of the nine sites passed the guidelines during January and February, with elevated levels of enterococci measured at Shaws Bay North in January and Shaws Bay West in February.
The sites tested in the program are:
Ocean beaches: Shelly Beach and Seven Mile Beach
Lake sites: Lake Ainsworth East, Lake Ainsworth West and Lake Ainsworth South
Estuary Sites: Shaws Bay East, Shaws Bay West, Shaws Bay North and The Serpentine.
Ballina Shire Council’s Kerri Watts said monitoring was being conducted by Council over the 2006–2007 summer season to provide the community and visitors with information on beach water quality.
“The results for this summer confirm the findings from previous years — Ballina’s beaches are amongst the cleanest in the State,” she said.
“Water quality in dry weather conditions is great, with low bacterial readings generally showing no evidence of direct source contamination.
“However, we do recommend that people avoid swimming at ocean beaches for up to 24 hours after heavy rain and for at least three days in lakes, estuaries and rivers affected by stormwater run-off.
“There are many actions that the community and visitors to the area can do to help keep our beaches clean. These include placing litter in the bin, picking up after your dog and using garden waste as mulch and not sweeping it into the stormwater gutter. Remember, The Drain is Just for Rain.”
