The area around the creek is subject to a combination of residential, commercial and recreational activities, which result in the stream being entirely piped upstream of the Chamberlain Park Golf Course, and strongly contaminated with urban pollutants such as zinc and lead.

The reef extends for over 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) across the Waitematā Harbour[2] Tāmaki Māori people named the creek Waitītiko, meaning "water of the periwinkles".

[3] European settlers subsequently renamed it Meola Creek, possibly after a glacier in India where Allan Kerr Taylor was born and lived until aged eight.

[4] In pre-human times much of the area was wetlands; in fact, the nearby suburb of Sandringham used to be called Cabbage Tree Swamp up until the mid 19th century.

In June 2006 an Asiatic short-clawed otter called Jin made national news as it escaped from Auckland Zoo by swimming down Meola Creek on an outgoing tide and into the Waitematā Harbour.

The problems, however, are not confined to the creek - within the Meola Reef settling zone (in the Waitematā Harbour), both zinc and lead have exceeded alert levels, which means the benthic community (e.g., shellfish and other sediment-dwelling invertebrates) has been seriously impacted.