Key information about Safeswim
- Safeswim is Auckland Council’s programme for managing public health risk from swimming in natural waters. Safeswim enables people to make informed decisions on when and where to swim with access to real-time information on water quality, swimming conditions, and safety hazards for popular swimming locations.
- Safeswim is a collaboration between Auckland Council, Surf Life Saving New Zealand, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, Drowning Prevention Auckland, Watercare Services Limited, and Northland Regional Council.
- Safeswim displays colour-coded pins to indicate the risk of getting sick due to the presence of faecal matter (poo) in the water: green (low risk of illness), red (high risk of illness), black (wastewater overflow detected).
- The information on Safeswim is based on the health risk of swimming and other activities that involve full immersion in water (known as primary contact recreation). The health risk of activities which do not involve full immersion in water, like sailing or paddle boarding, may be substantially less than swimming.
- Safeswim combines continuous monitoring of wastewater networks with predictive models to forecast water quality at swimming locations in Auckland. The water quality predictions on Safeswim are updated every 15 minutes.
- Operational staff can also manually override modelled water quality predictions to show red or black pins when other conditions likely to cause a public health risk occur (e.g., algal blooms or an un-monitored discharge from the wastewater network).
- Safeswim was launched in Auckland in 2017 and is now Auckland Council’s primary channel for communicating beach related water quality information to the public via the Safeswim website and mobile application (available on iOS and Android), as well as digital signs at certain beach locations.
- Safeswim also provides water quality information for beaches in the Northland Region and surf lifesaving patrol and safety information for patrolled beaches nationwide. This content is managed separately by Northland Regional Council and Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, respectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can find out more about Safeswim by heading to safeswim.org.nz. There you will find a comprehensive explanation of Safeswim as well as answers to many frequently asked questions, including:
- Questions about water quality and public health risk
- What causes poor water quality at beaches and in rivers and lakes?
- What is the risk of illness from swimming in recreational waters?
- What is the risk of illness if I am sailing or paddling?
- What should I do if I become sick after swimming?
- What should I do if I notice pollution or spot someone in trouble?
- Can I gather shellfish/kia moana from urban beaches?
- What are cyanobacteria and why are they a problem?
- Questions about how Safeswim works
- What is Safeswim’s water quality advice based on?
- How accurate is Safeswim’s water quality information?
- What types of models does Safeswim use?
- Do you still carry out water quality sampling?
- What are black pins based on?
- What is a long-term alert (permanent red pin)?
- Other questions
- Why is my local beach not on Safeswim?
- Why is my beach pin red and the neighbouring beach pin is green?
- Black pins seem to be showing up more often. Why is this?
- Why are there no warning signs at the beaches?
- Why aren’t beaches closed if there is a health risk?
- What is being done to improve recreational water quality?
- What other dangers should I watch out for at the beach or in lakes and rivers?
Media contacts
During business hours please direct your media query to one of the organisations listed below:
Auckland Council
Priscilla Southcombe, Senior Specialist Corporate Communications and Media
Phone: 027 290 9934
Email: priscilla.southcombe@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Contact for: about the Safeswim programme, green pins, red pins and general queries.
Drew Broadley, Principal Advisor Media Relations
Phone: 027 260 8216
Email: drew.broadley@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Watercare Services
Melanie Verran, External Content Manager
Phone: 022 006 2754
Email: communications@water.co.nz
Contact for: black pins, wastewater overflows
Surf Lifesaving New Zealand
Claire Cicchini, Media & Comms Manager
Phone: 021 457 1001
Email: media@surflifesaving.org.nz
Contact for: all enquiries about beach patrols and warnings (as indicated by flag and hazard warning symbols on the website/app)
Northland Regional Council
Matt Johnson, Media Specialist
Phone: 027 452 2151
Email: mattj@nrc.govt.nz
Contact for: all enquiries around water quality pins in the Northland region.
National Public Health Service - Northern Region
Email: hnzmedia@tewhatuora.govt.nz
Contact for: all enquiries around public health in the Northern region.
Drowning Prevention Auckland
Email: info@dpanz.org.nz
Contact for: all enquiries around drowning prevention in the Auckland region.
