A rāhui is in place around Canterbury's Lyttelton Harbour after untreated sewage was discharged into its waters yesterday.
A health warning was issued by Health New Zealand yesterday and covered several areas, including Te Waipapa/Diamond Harbour, Purau Bay, Kaioruru/Church Bay, and Te Wharau/Charteris Bay.
A seven-day rāhui on taking seafood within Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour was put in place by Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke (Rāpaki), through the Rāpaki Tangata Tiaki, as of 5pm last night. Eating shellfish, fish and other kaimoana from the harbour should also be avoided.
Dr Imogen Evans, a public health medicine specialist for the National Public Health Service, said the water quality in Diamond Harbour was "not considered suitable for recreational uses, including swimming, because of the risk to health from the bacteria and other pathogens".
"Water contaminated by human matter may contain a range of disease-causing micro-organisms such as viruses, bacteria and protozoa."
The hapū are contacting anyone who received permits over the last 24 hours.
No further permits would be issued during the seven-day rāhui and "possibly beyond", Health NZ said.
'Visible contamination plume'
Environment Canterbury compliance manager Jennifer Rochford on Saturday said the amount of sewage discharged was not yet known.
"A visible contamination plume was observed in the harbour earlier. While it has reduced, it continues to move toward the harbour heads with the outgoing tide," she said.
Rochford said Environment Canterbury would work closely with the council once the situation was stabilised to understand "what went wrong and how to prevent a repeat".
Christchurch City Council had since closed the affected pump station.
The discharge comes days after a wastewater incident in Wellington, where a "catastrophic failure" at the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant sent raw sewage into the city’s southern coastline.
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