By Eleanor Gee

A thin layer of brown scum has appeared on the surface of the public swimming pool at the waterfront in Touliki this week, raising concerns on the water quality of the popular site. It's particularly noticeable inside the pool, on the northern corners, when the water is flat in the morning.

When the water moves with the tide and wind, the scum mixes into the pool water, becomes harder to see and people do not realise it is there.

Taaniela Kula, Deputy Secretary and a Geologist, at the Natural Resources Division at the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, told Matangi Tonga the layer appears to be brown waste scum.

“When you see scum that means it’s a polluted place,” he said.

"The source of the scum could be anything, because it’s pollution from either boats, from the water, or from the people coming to swim by littering,” he said.

Rubbish such as plastic bottles, styrofoam, plastic wrappers, as well as dirty diapers are a common sight near the swimming pool, left behind by regular visitors, usually families and youth, who are too lazy to walk to the rubbish bin located by the roadside. The pool is becoming more popular as the summer holidays are heating up. Parents go into the pool with their babies and children.

Water quality testing

Taaniela admitted that his team had yet to assess the water in the swimming pool but promised they would test it as soon as possible.

“We haven’t tested the water in the swimming pool but we tested the water near the park at Patangata,” said Taaniela. The Patangata waterfront is about 500m from the public swimming pool.

This was done in February 2017 for a proposed development, with the results showing the presence of e. coli. The results stated that the source for the contamination at the Patangata waterfront was put down to the high number of bottomless or poorly constructed septic tanks in the area that are leaking directly into the ground, then to the sea and lagoon waters. In addition, a large number of pigs and dogs roam the reef at low tide contributing to the contamination. However, the e coli readings taken nearly two years ago were considered low making it safe for swimming.

He added that the Marine and Ports also needed to ensure that the boats are checked to ensure they aren't dumping their waste in the waterfront. This could be washing though the single channel into the swimming pool where it accumulates.

“Boats usually dump their waste 24 nautical miles from shore, in the deep ocean.”

Resources

The lack of regular water quality testing highlights the limited resources available with the Natural Resources Division that has a team of only six. Taaniela said he would like to see the team increased to at least 20 to cope with the demands.

“We haven’t done any water testing lately because our water team is busy sampling water around the kingdom, up to Niua, because we want a national water inventory report on the status of water throughout [the country],” he said.

“It’s a lot of work to organize the people to do the sampling and the testing and there are only a few [of us]. We’re busy all the time.”

Escherichia coli bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most varieties of e. coli are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea. But a few particularly nasty strains can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.