Background

The group was formed by the former Banks Peninsula District Council in January 1999 as a result of strong community concern about the environment and habitat of the Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō basin. Facilitation was handed over to Environment Canterbury in 2003, and district council support transferred to Christchurch City Council when Banks Peninsula District Council was disestablished in March 2006. Goals identified by the group to focus on, included:

• Improved public education about harbour environmental issues;
• Wider distribution of information relating to Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury’s responsibilities and activities;
• Greater level of local input to the development of Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury’s policies relating to effluent disposal and other activities affecting the harbour; and
• Creation of a forum for encouraging cooperation between communities and authorities to find solutions to common problems.

The agreed vision for the group is “To improve the harbour environment and habitat and achieve a fair balance between all interests.”

The group has a broad range of members, both private individuals and representatives of the other many local community groups. It also includes representatives of organisations such as Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council, Department Of Conservation, Lyttelton Port Company, Community and Public Health, Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke (Rāpaki), Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata (Port Levy), Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, and University of Canterbury. The group meets approximately five times per year. The first meeting of each year is jointly held with the Akaroa Harbour Issues Working Group. The last meeting of each year is timed to coincide with training for volunteers undertaking the summer bathing water sampling.

Meetings are usually held at the Governors Bay Community Centre, sometimes at the Governors Bay Fire Station. Meetings begin with a light supper and follow an agenda that has been sent out before hand. The group discusses current relevant issues and ongoing projects, and decide on actions to implement. Presentations on topics of interest to the group are often given by guest speakers.

Water quality

The main focus for this group is water quality. This includes: harbour sedimentation; safety of eating shellfish; safety for recreation; stream health; stormwater; roading and subdivision runoff; and wastewater.

Safe Water Information Monitoring (SWIM)

The group includes a number of volunteers who take samples of the harbour water at several popular swimming sites during summer, as part of Environment Canterbury’s Safe Water Information Monitoring programme. This monitoring is used to establish the coastal bathing beach grades that allow the public to find out how safe the water is for swimming.

Find out how safe your swimming spot is ».

Achievements

• SWIM sampling every summer
• Rapaki Shellfish Safe to Eat study every summer
• Media articles
• Presentations given to group by various people, several times a year
• Submissions to CCC and Environment Canterbury Annual Plans and LTCCPs, and other plans, policies and strategies
• Sampling and analysis of shellfish at 6 sites in Harbour on 24 June 2009 to find out microbial contamination, building on Rapaki Shellfish Safe to Eat studies and SWIM
• Representation on Lyttelton Harbour Waste Water Working Party. Outcome 2009 is that wastewater will be pumped to Bromley and included in ocean outfall.
• Supported a proposed Vegetation Management Plan for Road Reserves, 2009
• LHIG ‘Sedimentation Working Group Report on Programme for 2009 onwards’, 2009 by working group including Claire Findlay, Paul Pritchett, Debbie Sherriff, and Paula Smith
• Completion in 2008 by Lesley Bolton-Ritchie of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō potential contaminant sources study which brought together results of all previous reports into a report that prioritised significance of potential contaminants in each sub-catchment around harbour.
• Field tour with Environment Canterbury and CCC staff, December 2007. The purpose of this was: to improve communication and understanding; find solutions to reduce the impacts on the harbour waters from land derived sources e.g. subdivisions, roading, streams; meet at six locations that demonstrate issues; see what works and what doesn't work; and to work together to identify what could work better.
• Involvement in development of Environment Canterbury’s Sediment and Erosion Control Guidelines, 2007
• Sandy Bay SWIM Investigation, 2007
• Wybren De Vries honours dissertation on Mudflat Morphodynamics and Sedimentation Rates following on from James Goff’s work, 2007
• Environment Canterbury mapping of soft sediments and ecology of intertidal mudflats, 2007
• Rapaki Bay SWIM Investigation, 2006
• Corsair Bay SWIM investigation, 2005
• Involvement with study of impacts of subdivision on Links and Zephyr Streams, 2005
• Group plan to reduce harbour sedimentation in 2004, following on from report by Deidre Hart which concluded catchment erosion is the most important source of external sediment in the upper harbour
• Presentation by James Goff of his Sedimentation Study, 2004
• Volunteer stream sampling following rainfall events, 2004
• NRRP submission, 2004

Interested in Harbour issues?

If you have an interest in the future of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō and would like to know more about this group, or join the group, please contact Environment Canterbury Customer Services and ask for the Resource Management Coordination team member for Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō.