Wellington sewage spill: Where is it safe to swim?
Thursday, 5 February 2026
Were you planning to hit the beach this weekend? Have your say in the comments.
Summer has finally arrived in Wellington, but would-be beach goers are being urged to avoid the south coast and be careful around the harbour, Petone and Eastbourne, as untreated sewage is dumped after a Moa Point Plant failure on Wednesday.
Wellington was set to hit 20C on Thursday ahead of the long weekend, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday also expected to have temperatures in the 20s, after days of heavy rain and cold.
Officials have warned people to stay away from south coast beaches, including dog walkers, saying the area is dangerous after millions of litres of untreated waste was dumped along the shoreline after a fault at the Moa Point waste treatment plant early Wednesday. About 70m litres are being dumped daily.
Read More:
“The sea is unsafe at the moment,” mayor Andrew Little said on Wednesday. “Don’t take your dog or your kids onto the beach. The risks are too high.”
It’s expected Wellingtonians will be unable to use south coast beaches for weeks, possibly months, but swimmers around the Wellington harbour and Petone and Eastbourne areas are also advised to take care - although water sample results are still pending.
Water samples have been taken from specific sites on the coast and results would be available on Friday.
Wellington Water strongly recommended the community follow public health advice and signage at the beach - to stay away until further notice and do not collect kai moana.
The LAWA (Land Air Water Aotearoa) website says if beaches are safe or unsafe to swim at but doesn't say what the readings of harmful bacteria are, nor when the readings were taken - including if the latest ones factored in the discharge.
As results of water sampling weren’t yet returned, that meant the don’t swim/proceed with caution/OK to swim notifications on LAWA were based on assumptions, not readings.
South coast resident Eugene Doyle - who was on a mayoral Three Waters taskforce and a multi-party working group on water for two years - said he had been calling for years for water sampling, with data immediately put online so people could 'get their heads around what is going on'.
'We don't know how bad it is,' he said on Thursday, as raw sewage continued to pump into the sea and swim groups around the south coast cancelled swims.
Key groups, from regional and city councils to Wellington Water, had all “failed to deliver” on getting proper information to the public. They now needed to commit to this, he said.
On Thursday morning Wellington Water said staff were on site at affected areas, distributing flyers and speaking with the local community and that would continue throughout the day.
“Crews will be back on site today, working to ascertain the full impact of the flooding on the plant’s equipment and operations. This assessment will take some time, and we expect that this will be an extended outage at the plant.”