Wanganui people are being warned not to swim in their river for three weeks because of pollution.
The district council says it will be dumping the city's sewage into the lower reaches of the river from Monday while it upgrades the sewer outfall pipeline underneath the river.
"Even though the sewage is going down [stream]...we still think it's wise for people to avoid swimming in the river upstream over the next three weeks, and we'll be monitoring the situation," says medical officer of health Dr Patrick O'Connor.
The council says the upgraded pipeline will eventually take the city's sewage to new land based treatment ponds and remove it completely from the river.
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