The investigation into E.coli contamination at the Bendigo camping site is still being investigated, but some campers have headed for alternative sites in the meantime.
Forty-three cars and vans were at the Champagne Gully site, in the Cromwell Gorge, on Thursday morning, and some campers said they had moved there because of the warnings not to swim, fish or take water from Lake Dunstan at the Bendigo site. E. coli was confirmed there on Tuesday, and has possibly come from the toilet block at the site.
Often there are only about 10 vehicles overnight at the Champagne Gully site. One camper yesterday said 43 vehicles was more than twice as many as when she camped there a week ago.
Land and Information New Zealand (Linz) deputy chief executive Crown property, Jerome Sheppard, said Champagne Gully had always been a site "with high recreational values and is subject to considerable day use anyway".
"While it’s great that some campers are choosing to use other sites while further tests for E. coli are carried out at Bendigo, we are always conscious of (and plan for) increased numbers of visitors at any of our sites and what this means for the infrastructure that is in place. This is why there is already a high level of monitoring, cleaning and maintenance, and we are confident that our current arrangements are working well so far to cover the demand."
The toilets at Champagne Gully were owned by the Central Otago District Council (CODC), and maintenance and cleaning was undertaken by CODC contractors, Mr Sheppard said.
"We would expect, however, to be advised if there were further issues at the site, and we continue to work closely with the council and the Otago Regional Council on freedom camping-related matters."
An ORC spokesman said the E.coli contamination at Bendigo was still being investigated.
Mr Sheppard said, despite the contamination at Bendigo, "overall we have been really pleased with the behaviour of people using our free public sites so far this summer, especially considering the large volumes of visitors — the vast majority of whom are respectful and act responsibly".
"At the end of the day, however, given these sites are freely accessible to the public, we are still reliant on people doing the right thing and playing their part to keep these areas clean and tidy for everyone’s enjoyment."
Mr Sheppard said another 10 temporary signs had been erected at the Bendigo campsite: at the entrance, on the closed toilet block, on portable toilets and on all noticeboards.
Campers at the site on Wednesday had criticised the number of signs — there were only two temporary ones — on the closed toilet block.
Mr Sheppard said larger A3-sized signs were expected to be put up late this week.
He said Linz continued "to put a significant amount of work into monitoring, maintaining and upgrading" the Lake Dunstan camping sites to manage the increased demand over summer.
Data showed that contractors were removing about 100kg of rubbish daily from the Bendigo site, while at Lowburn, 1800 vehicle movements were recently logged in one week.
When the Otago Daily Times visited the Bendigo site on Wednesday, there was toilet paper and/or sanitary products in seven places within a radius of several metres around the toilet block.
Mr Sheppard said the Linz contractor visited Bendigo twice daily and collected rubbish.
"During one of our regular visits last week, Linz staff observed contractors on site picking up a large amount of rubbish that included toilet paper, so we are confident that this is being done. Obviously, depending on the times that people visit the site, there may be some rubbish present. However, once the contractor has been, the site is left clean and tidy. But again, in order to help maintain these sites and keep them clean, we need the help of everyone, and strongly encourage people to pick up their own rubbish and please respect the free facilities provided."
