ADBA and Auckland Council have been in discussion on water quality for the St Marys Bay area and the use of the safeswim website.

ADBA can now confirm that we have had advice from the Safeswim lead scientist that the measurement used for the site is calculated to a level fit for swimming with face down for 10 minutes full immersion. The level of Red and Black has been assessed as very low risk for boating and paddling activities regardless of the warning level on the Safeswim website.

It has taken some time to get this confirmation and we are aware of the disruption is has caused to our past season and given it is an issue of your health we wanted to ensure the accuracy and source of the information have been official and accurate.

While overflows of waste water do occur into St Marys Bay currently, the committee now consider this at paddlers discretion to choose to paddle after heavy rain or not.

Even better news is there is a Watercare project to divert a further 90% of wastewater from the bay which will be activated within the next few months further reducing overflow events.

A reminder that ADBA does still reserve the right to cancel training or events for various reasons in extreme conditions however with this latest information the occurrences will now hopefully be very minimal.

Thanks to those who have been persistent in following this up, but also making the hard calls when needed which is always tough and thankless.

Bring on more paddling!