Freshwater Quality
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The long awaited National Environmental Monitoring Standard (NEMS) for Discrete Water Quality was released in March, contributing to the wider suite of existing Standards that collectively seek to improve national consistency in environmental monitoring.
Environmental report calls attention to the need for more research on water quality
The quality of New Zealand’s waterways features prominently in a newly released report on the state of our environment - an opinion editorial by NIWA Chief Scientist of Freshwater and Estuaries, Scott Larned.
Scientists make break-through in saving freshwater mussels
Doctoral student, Michele Melchior, has made an important breakthrough in the effort to save New Zealand's freshwater mussels, or kākahi.
Kākahi were once a valuable food source for Māori, and they also play a crucial role as indicators of the health of waterways. All three kakahi species in New Zealand are in decline.
Scientist collects rubbish to rid river of plastics
It may be rubbish to everyone else, but to Amanda Valois each little scrap of plastic on a river bank or in a waterway tells a valuable story.
Looking after water in our towns and cities
The Urban Water Principles report released this month is a first step in tackling some big issues in a collaborative way.
Community project inspires scientists
A project to restore a stream catchment in Kaikōura—damaged in the 2016 earthquake—is being described as inspirational by NIWA scientists.
New collaborative project on productive riparian buffers
NIWA is working with DairyNZ, Regional Councils and farmers on a new project to evaluate riparian planting options that have economic as well as environmental benefits. The project is co-funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund. Read the article Research into productive riparian buffers on the DairyNZ website, or contact Dr Fleur Matheson.
‘Swimmability’ of New Zealand rivers
Swimming is a popular activity in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Two attributes of waters that strongly affect aesthetic quality and safety for swimming are visual clarity and faecal contamination. It turns out that these two attributes are fairly well-correlated (inversely) in New Zealand rivers, such that (easily seen) visual clarity provides a rough-but-useful guide to (unseen) microbial quality.
Use of stable isotopes in rainfall and rivers to explain pathways and speed of water movement through catchments
Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in rainfall and rivers can provide a powerful tool to explain the pathways and speed of water movement through catchments.