Welcome to Freshwater Update, the e-newsletter of NIWA's National Centre for Freshwater. Here we bring you our latest review and outlook for New Zealand's water resources, and news of some of our latest research.
Maps of river flows, lake levels, water temperature, and water clarity for winter 2009.
The lakes of the Upper Waitaki Basin – Lakes Benmore, Aviemore, and Waitaki – are highly valued for their clean water. But land use is intensifying in the lakes’ catchments, and concerns for future water quality are growing. NIWA scientists have worked alongside Waikato University scientists to model the potential impact of intensifying land use on water quality in Lake Benmore, to help Environment Canterbury with its regional planning.
NIWA has recently summarised trends in the levels of periphyton in streams and rivers across New Zealand. The news is not all bad, as overall more rivers had decreasing levels of the slimy green algae than had increasing levels.
The nationwide outlook for soil moisture levels and river flows over the summer.
NIWA Principal Scientist Graham McBride is contributing to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) book provisionally entitled ‘Animal Waste, Water Quality, Human Health’. The book will be highly relevant to water management in New Zealand.
“The reality is that no one in the world has done anything on this scale. Our trial aims to show that this complete process can be cost-effective and efficient”, says NIWA scientist Dr Rupert Craggs. Twelve years of research by NIWA’s Aquatic Pollution Group has culminated in the world’s first large-scale trial of the production of algal bio-crude oil from wastewater.
