Water safety

Fraser Waters (12, right) leads Mathew Leach (11) around a buoy, with Kendall Brook (10) in the background, during the Otago Yachting Association-Water Safety New Zealand holiday sailing programme on Otago Harbour yesterday.

The Dunedin City Council will consider costly improvements to Dunedin's water infrastructure to address fears chemicals leaching from former industrial sites are contributing to the contamination of Otago Harbour.

The "beauty" of Lake Dunstan is the seemingly endless beaches, lake harbourmaster Shayne Hitchcock says.

Shane Hildred is used to having his occupation blamed for all the problems with New Zealand's waterways.

Changes afoot in regulations governing water use in Otago will influence the region's prosperity for years to come, the Otago Regional Council says. Rebecca Fox looks at the council's sometimes controversial approach to water quality and quantity.

The Safe Boating Family Open Day was held at Frankton Marina yesterday. Together with free boat safety check-ups, sausage sizzle and a bouncy castle for the kids, each station emphasised safety messages including life-jacket use, marine fire safety and the need for good communications on the water.

A new Wakatipu water safety public awareness campaign has been launched, urging people who see danger on the water to call 111.

A group of Hawea Flat residents has launched a campaign to protect their bore drinking water supply from the threat of dairy farm effluent.

Water safety groups and tourist operators in Queenstown have vowed to educate tourists about lake safety to prevent a repeat of last December's drowning of two French kayakers on Lake Wakatipu.

The Otago coroner looking into the deaths of two men who drowned during a collision between a jet-boat and jet ski has recommended wearing life jackets be made compulsory for all small-boat users.