Piha Beach South of the Lion Rock

Piha is the birth place of New Zealand surfing and one of the worlds most famous surfing beaches. Boarding in Piha began in the 1930's and in 1958 Malibu board riding arrived. Piha is home to New Zealand's national and international surfing champions. The powerful rips that make it ideal for boarding makes it dangerous for swimmers and have been known to snap canoes in half. This area is patrolled by 2 life saving clubs and has a reality show "Piha Rescue". Please stay in the designated swimming area marked with red and yellow flags.

Lions Rock sits between North Piha Beach and South Piha Beach close to the public toilets and changing facilities. There is a picnic area close to the car park. The waves at North Piha Beach are a bit more friendly and hospitable to swimmers and new surfers. The area is home to blue penguins, pippits and oyster catchers. Because of this, dogs have been banned from the beach and grass lands. The black sands of Piha captures sun, heating the beach. The colour of the sand can be attributed to it's rich iron content. The surrounding area is perfect for exploring when the waves are too rough.

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COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is essential right now. Follow the advice of the health experts. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Heading to the beach should only be considered an option if social distancing practices can be followed. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter the efforts to curb the virus’ spread.

For more information, please visit the World Health Organization public resource on COVID-19.

Water Quality

Meets water quality standards
Current Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on February 27th, 2021. Swim Guide NZ updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on February 27th, 2021 at 10:00 AM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Report Pollution

Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Beaches in Auckland are monitored by Safeswim, a program which emerged out of a partnership between Auckland Council, Surf Life Saving Northern Region, and Auckland Regional Public Health Service. Safeswim forecasts water quality and real-time public health alerts and safety risks at 84 beaches and 8 freshwater locations around Auckland.

Safeswim uses predictive modelling to provide the public with real-time water quality and safety information. Predictive modelling allows Safeswim to forecast recreational water quality so that bathers and other recreational water users have better access to the current and future status of their beaches. This allows recreational water users to make better, more informed decisions about when and where to get in the water. Water quality predictions are made using statistical modelling. Models include historical and current water quality test results, as well as other environmental factors such as wind, rain, tides, and sewage events like CSOs. Safeswim’s models are updated every 10 minutes, and display results using 3 risk categories:

People are exposed to very low risk of infection from contact with the water. The beach’s water quality doesn’t present an immediate health risk to those in direct contact with it.

People are exposed to a low to moderate risk of infection from contact with the water. This is the minimum acceptable state. The beach’s water quality still meets an acceptable standard for swimming.

People are exposed to a moderate to high risk of infection from contact with the water. The beach’s water quality is considered unsuitable for swimming.

Swim Guide interprets these categories in our pass/fail system as:

Very low risk and low to moderate risk categories receive a GREEN/PASS in Swim Guide.

Moderate to high risk categories receive a RED/FAIL in Swim Guide.

The predictive models use New Zealand’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of the Environment’s Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines for Recreational Water. The Guidelines are:

Marine water : Single sample value > 140 Enterococcus / 100 ml
Freshwater : Single sample value > 260 E.coli / 100 ml

Water Quality Graph