Hawke’s Bay’s Karamu Catchment has a dirty reputation when it comes to water quality. 

In 2016 it hit the headlines over a waterborne campylobacter outbreak. The outbreak was linked to four deaths and made over 5000 people in Havelock North violently ill. A Government inquiry followed; both the regional and district councils were severely criticised and public confidence in them faltered. In that instance sheep faeces washed from paddocks into the waterways after heavy rain.

Then there were the deaths of nearly 200 mullet late last year after thick weed clogged the Clive River at Whakatu, causing a barrier to the fish, which became stranded after flipping on top of the weeds. Excessive nutrients (from stormwater runoff) and warm water temperatures caused the aquatic weed explosion.

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