Water testing finds beaches still too unsafe for swimming on Wellington’s south coast

Friday, 6 February 2026

Workers and volunteers scoop up waste and debris at Tarakena Bay Beach after an equipment failure at Wellington’s Moa Point wastewater plant sent untreated sewage into the sea, prompting health warnings and beach closures.

The first official test results from Wellington’s polluted south coast have come back, showing bacteria levels are still too high for people to safely swim at Mahanga Bay, Hue Te Taka Peninsula and Owhiro Bay.

The results were released by Wellington Water, which tested pollution levels at 18 sites following Wednesday morning’s breakdown at the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Hue Te Taka Peninsula, which was next to the short outfall pipe where millions of litres of untreated sewage was being pumped into the sea, had bacteria levels “many times over the safe limit”.

The testing found 15 other sites were officially safe to swim, however Wellington Water warned the samples were taken on Wednesday and the advice to avoid south coast beaches remained in place.

Toilet paper and condoms washed up on Moa Point in Wellington on Wednesday.

“This does not mean it is safe to swim and formal public health advice remains to keep out of the water, avoid the beach and do not collect kaimoana [seafood]. Moa Point is continuing to discharge untreated wastewater,” it said in a statement.

Samples collected on Thursday were still being analysed in the lab, which was “not a quick process” as it required time to let any bacteria grow.

Wellington Water said it had partially fixed the long outfall pipe which backed up causing the breakdown, and was now able to pump “900 litres per second” of wastewater through it.

That amount was most of the wastewater on an average day, but during peak flows it would still need the short outfall pipe, which meant raw sewage would continue to be pumped into the ocean.

The plant broke down around 1am on Wednesday.

“The team are working carefully throughout the weekend to increase the volume of flow through the long outfall pipe as much as possible, to reduce the use of the short outfall pipe,” it said.

“However, the situation remains complex and at this stage we are unable to provide a timeframe of when this may be.”

Raw sewage was still visible along the south coast on Thursday, and swimmers and surfers Stuff spoke to said the community was “grieving”.

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little inspecting the plant on Thursday following the breakdown.

“This is just devastating, this is our community, this is our mental health strategy. It is outrageous, how, in 2026, is there no technology to prevent this happening?” surfer Jana Barrett said.

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little confirmed to Stuff an inquiry into the handling of the breakdown by Wellington Water would be taking place, to understand “who knew what and when”.

“How the matter was alerted to Wellington Water… What they knew, what they did, when they notified others, when information went out, when the public was notified, all of those issues need to be the subject of the investigation,” he said.

The plant broke down around 1am on Wednesday morning, but it wasn’t until many hours later that the public was informed of its severity.

A rāhui had been put in place and covered anything the water touched or could touch in low or high tide, which meant no public activities on or around the beaches on the southern coastline.