Client: Auckland Council Healthy Waters
New Zealanders love to swim and we’re blessed with an abundance of rivers, streams, lakes and beaches to enjoy. Spending time in the water lifts our spirits and is great physical exercise, while our waterways and moana (ocean) are also home to many taonga (sacred and protected) species.
But they are not always clean and safe for human health.
Many popular swimming spots are at risk of pollution from untreated sewage or runoff from urban, farming and industrial areas.
To help keep everyone in Tāmaki Makaurau safe, Auckland Council Healthy Waters in conjunction with Auckland Regional Public Health Service, Surf Life Saving Northern Region and Watercare relaunched the new and improved Safeswim programme in 2017.
This programme provides real-time data on water quality, water safety (tides, swimming conditions and marine hazards such as shark sightings, jellyfish, or rip currents), and long-term health warnings across the Auckland region so people can make informed decisions on when and where to swim.
Morphum Environmental are proud to have been involved with Safeswim since its relaunch. Our innovative approach to data collection, and our holistic lens, has been integral to the success of Safeswim.
The Challenge
Safeswim monitors the water quality of Auckland’s waterways through regular water sampling at recreational swimming areas to identify any areas of concern and to help build and validate water quality models.
In order to collect and analyse data on an ongoing basis, Auckland Council needed an efficient, digitised process to gather water quality data in the field and then manage the large data set to produce live, publicly available guidance on water quality.
Morphum were engaged to meet these needs.
The Approach
In collaboration with Auckland Council Healthy Waters, Watercare and other contracted organisations, we have designed a fit-for-purpose water sampling data collection process for the Safeswim programme.
Our technical expertise in the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s (ESRI) GIS software meant the ESRI platform could be used for data collection using the apps ‘Survey 123’ and ‘Field Maps’ to effectively manage this data with live datasets of all Safeswim sampling locations and events.
These apps have made digital data entry in the field easy, allowed data to be uploaded in real-time, and have in-built data quality assurance features. The result is accurate and consistent data capture.
Morphum has continually improved this sampling process in recent years by taking advantage of new technologies and is always looking for greater efficiencies and opportunities to automate processes.
Auckland Council’s Safeswim online platform provides live information on water quality and swimming conditions using predictive models.
The Result
Safeswim now covers the whole Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) region, delivering live water safety advice at over 120 sites to the public. It also helps Auckland Council identify areas which may require targeted investigations, investment and infrastructure solutions to improve the water quality and measure the success of these programmes.
Morphum’s work with Safeswim has contributed to a positive, measurable impact on both the environment and human health.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) provided updated guidelines for recreational water quality in 2003. The key take-away from this was the recommendation to use models to provide real-time water quality information, as Safeswim has done. Safeswim has since been recognised by the WHO as the sole example of water quality modelling and has been used as a case study to highlight the effective public communication system that Safeswim employs. This is great recognition for the Safeswim programme.
Mophum is extremely proud to be involved in this initiative.