Freshwater quality monitoring by Environment Southland, Taranaki Regional Council, Horizons Regional Council and Environment Waikato

Report prepared by the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) for the Office of the Auditor-General.
The content of NIWA's report is protected by copyright and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Contents

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. Methods

  • Question 1: Assessment of the methods used by the regions to monitor the quality of freshwater
  • Question 2: Analysis of state and trends in river water quality
  • Water quality state
  • Trend analysis
  • Ranking of sites within regions
  • Determination of overall state, trends and assessment of the monitoring network

3. Regional council methods for monitoring freshwater quality

  • Environment Southland
  • Taranaki Regional Council
  • Horizons Regional Council
  • Environment Waikato

4. State and trends in freshwater quality

  • Environment Southland
  • Taranaki Regional Council
  • Horizons Regional Council
  • Environment Waikato

5. Discussion and Conclusions

  • Do regional councils have effective methods to gather information about and monitor the quality of freshwater?
  • What is the state and trends in water quality as indicated by state of the environment monitoring data?

6. References

Appendix