A popular swimming event in Auckland has been knocked back a week as authorities race around the clock to bypass the crucial sewer link underneath the city's newest and biggest sinkhole.
The Summer Swim Series at Kohimarama will now start on November 2 as raw sewage contamination continues to plague parts of the Waitematā Harbour.
"I do really feel for all of our swimmers, though we're lucky to be in a position where we haven't had to start the season yet so we can just push and shuffle the whole thing," the event's Jason Herriman told 1News.
"We have some very keen people who are probably very rightly pissed about it, I'm not going to lie."
Herriman said the event has had to contend with water quality issues for many years but the one caused by the 13-metre sinkhole was the most substantial.
He said there was a possibility people could get very ill if they went into the water, and the series was shifted until there's a guarantee there are no issues.
Raw sewage is still pouring into the harbour near the city centre.
It's gushing in at a rate of about 100 litres per second or 9 million litres per day.
"And that is broadly three and-a-half Olympic swimming pools," Nick Vigar from Auckland Council's Healthy Waters said.
"Where it's entering the harbour is thousands of times the swimming guidelines so read into that what you will around the risk of catching diseases," he said.
"It would certainly be very high."
That risk means a renewed plea ahead of the weekend for people to heed warning signs and keep out of the water.
"It's incredibly disappointing for me and the timing in some respects couldn't be worse," Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said.
"It's school holidays, you know kids love to come to the beach," she said.
But she cautioned testing is proving that the water is contaminated.
"And the data that I have seen means it isn't safe to put your eyes, your ears, your nose and anything else actually in or under the water."
"It's a shame we have to do it but I think everybody would agree with me public safety is our absolute key message here and that's our priority," Simpson said.
The latest estimate from Watercare is for a mammoth and temporary bypass to come online on October 17.
There would still need to be further testing of the water after that.
1News recently observed people, including small children, in the water and unaware of the potential risks.
"It's raw, untreated sewage," Vigar said.
"It's unfortunate but it's not every beach in Auckland. Go to Safeswim and you'll see there are beaches there that we're confident are not affected by this.
"You may not get to swim at your favourite beach but there are options."
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