Coasts and estuaries

Greater Wellington measures tide levels and sea temperatures at several locations in the Wellington region. In addition, we also monitor the water quality at many of our beaches to assess suitability for swimming.

The data are logged on a regular basis (usually every 5 minutes) and then uploaded to our database via telemetry (radio or cell phone tranmission) every 1 to 3 hours. This is "raw data" because it has not been passed through our quality checks. Once it has been checked it is moved to a secure archive and is referred to as "archived data".

The data we provide for this website is a combination of archived and raw data. The archived data is shown in black and the raw data is shown in red. This ensures that the data we are providing is as accurate and up to date as possible. Should you require the information in a form other than how it is presented here, please contact us and we can usually provide it within two working days.

Greater Wellington together with city and district councils, monitor water quality at selected marine and freshwater bathing sites across the region. During the summer bathing season (1 November - 31 March) the monitoring results are updated weekly and displayed here for your information.

Click here to view other reports on harbours, estuaries and beaches.