page_title: Waitematā Harbour
section_title: Sewage contamination
hierarchical_section_title: Waitematā Harbour / History / Sewage contamination
caption_attribution_description: Auckland Skyline, - photo taken and uploaded by Paul Moss, Photographer, Artist, Paul Moss Photographer Artist NZ
context_page_description: Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts of the Auckland isthmus and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is matched on the southern side of the city by the shallower waters of the Manukau Harbour.
  With an area of 70 square miles, it connects the city's main port and the Auckland waterfront to the Hauraki Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. It is sheltered from Pacific storms by Auckland's North Shore, Rangitoto Island, and Waiheke Island.
context_section_description: While the harbour has numerous beaches popular for swimming, the older-style "combined sewers" in several surrounding western suburbs dump contaminated wastewater overflows into the harbour on approximately 52 heavy-rain days a year, leading to regular health warnings at popular swimming beaches, until the outfalls have dispersed again. A major new project, the Central Interceptor, starting 2019, is to reduce these outfalls by about 80% once completed around 2024.
caption: Waitematā Harbour with the Sky Tower and Maungawhau / Mount Eden (behind Sky Tower) in the centre, as seen from the North Shore somewhere between Bayswater Marina (left) and the Harbour Bridge (out of frame, to the right).
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