Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has lifted its harmful algal bloom health warning issued for Lake Hood.

Recent water testing at Lake Hood has shown the quantity of potentially toxic harmful algae (planktonic cyanobacteria) in the lake has reduced and concentrations are now below levels that are of concern to public health.

Dr Claire Salter, Medical Officer of Health for the National Public Health Service, said the public would be informed if testing shows that concentrations have increased and there is a risk to public health again.

Council Group Manager Neil McCann said warning signage at the lake will be removed, to reflect the health warning being lifted.

“This is great timing with Easter coming up and there’ll be plenty of people keen to be on the water if the weather stays warm.

“The water quality has improved since the health warning was issued in January, and the back-to-back readings have confirmed it.”

Council is continuing to work with scientists on ways to manage algal blooms in the lake in the future.

Mr McCann said the past summer had been cooler and wetter than the previous summer, and as much information as possible was being gathered about how cyanobacteria blooms form in Lake Hood.

“We’ll keep the community up to date with the trial results once the scientists have analysed the data from the last three months.”

The last two readings have been 0.4 mm3/L and 0.09 mm3/L cyanobacteria biovolume, which meets the requirement for two consecutive weeks of results below 0.5 mm3/L level for Health NZ to lift the health warning.

For further details visit:
https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/canterbury-region

To keep up to date with current health warnings visit:
https://info.health.nz/health-alerts