With the weather heating up, Aucklanders may be ready to flock to the region's beaches for a dip - but the council has declared over a dozen beaches as unsafe for swimming due to faecal contamination.
Listed on Auckland council's Safeswim website, 14 Auckland swimming spots have a "high risk of illness from swimming" alert, 12 of those bearing a "long-term water quality alert".
Two popular city swimming spots - Kohimarama Beach and St Heliers Beach - have been issued a high-risk alert this weekend, with the water quality set to improve by Saturday evening for Kohimarama.
St Heliers will drop to a low-risk alert on Monday morning before hitting a high-risk alert again by 5pm.
Safeswim advises the public not to swim in these areas as their water quality measuring systems have indicated high levels of faecal contamination - exceeding national guidelines for swimming.
Water contaminated by human or animal faeces can contain disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Examples of these include salmonella, campylobacter, or giardia.
In short, these 13 spots have such high levels of human or animal poo in amongst the water, if a human swam in it they could get seriously sick.
With that in mind, here are the spots to avoid when trying to beat the November heat:
West:
- Bethells Lagoon - long-term high risk
- North Piha Lagoon - long-term high risk
- Piha South Lagoon - long-term high risk
- Fosters Bay - long-term high risk
- Titirangi Beach - long-term high risk
- Wood Bay - long-term high risk
- Green Bay - long-term high risk
Central:
- Oakley Creek - long-term high risk
- Meola Reef - long-term high risk
- Cox's Bay - long-term high risk
East:
- Kohimarama Beach - short-term high risk
- St Heliers Beach - short-term high risk
Waiheke Island:
- Little Oneroa Lagoon - long-term high risk
