Cawthron to play a key role in three research projects critical to the future of water management in this country

Cawthron Institute will work with NIWA to investigate areas critical to the future of water management in New Zealand after a successful bid for a share of 22 million dollars in government funding in the latest round of grants from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

The crown research institute and Cawthron researchers will collaborate on three key projects exploring management of water quality and water quantity, and remedial options for contaminated waterways.

$7 Million per year has been allocated by FRST for the projects, which will run over the next six years, starting this October.

Coastal and Freshwater Group Manager Rowan Strickland, says "Cawthron is excited to have been invited to collaborate on work of such importance to the economic and environmental future of New Zealand."

"While there is increasing recognition that water is our most valuable resource, we are clearly struggling as a nation to balance the social, environmental and economic interests in this precious resource".

"We urgently need to improve our knowledge and develop better tools if we are to better manage our water into the future."

"These projects hold the key to providing that information, and tools, to guide local and central government policy and planning, developers, and the community in harnessing water for economic benefit while protecting our waterways for enjoyment by our children and future generations."

The cumulative effect of a variety of contaminants on aquatic ecosystems is one of the key areas of research to secure funding. It involves scientists looking at a variety of river health indicators across a gradient of rivers, from pristine to polluted, to see how they respond to changes in intensity of land use.

The lack of knowledge about cumulative effects is, freshwater ecologist Roger Young says, "one of the major causes of declining river health in this country," and widely recognised as a challenge for resource management.

"Despite knowledge of best-management practices, Dairy Industry initiatives such as the Clean Streams Accord, community involvement, and development of regional water quality standards, contaminants associated with intensification of farming are still taking a toll on freshwater and estuarine ecosystems." (Key contaminants include: sediment, nutrients, bacteria and pesticides.)

"The current assumption is this contamination is a gradual process that increases over time, but it may be that once a certain amount of nutrients enter a system, everything turns to custard at once and there is nothing anyone can do at this point to change the outcome.

"By comparing changes in intensity of land use we can look at setting standards to ensure those tipping points are never met, better safeguarding our waterways."

Roger Young says the research will take more of an holistic view than currently exists, looking at cumulative effects, not isolated ones, as at present.

"Under the consent process, regional councils look only at how a single development, such as a dairy shed, will impact on a system.

"The discharge from that one shed might result in only a very minimal, and therefore acceptable, change to water quality downstream. However, when there are 500 farms in one catchment, all with effluent discharged from sheds and off land, perhaps combined with a sewage treatment plant and maybe a meatworks, we know the outcome is likely to be a very different story."

Roger Young says ultimately it is envisaged the research will set standards and guidelines around nutrient loading to assist regional councils with their planning. The outcome will differ from area to area depending on soil types, climate and values in a particular water body.

While Cawthron's involvement in the cumulative effects project is new, its work on river health indicators is internationally recognised. Primary research sites for this project will be in Canterbury, Kaipara Harbour, Hawkes Bay, Otago and Taupo.

Following the successful funding bid, researchers will also be researching options for restoring contaminated aquatic systems.

Rowan Strickland says many of New Zealand's rivers, lakes and estuaries are in degraded and often worsening state, which is not only an issue for the general public but also threatens our "clean-green" image.

"What we need to work out is not just how to rehabilitate streams, but which ones should have priority. That rests on their values and on where the money is best spent. The worst cases will not necessarily be top priority, because we should also consider how well streams will respond to rehabilitation. Landowners, community groups, industry, iwi and government could end up pouring millions of dollars into clean up operations for no gain."

Government has already committed around $433M to rehabilitation projects in Taupo, Te Arawa/Rotorua Lakes and Waikato River. Industry initiatives, such as the 'Dairying and Clean Streams Accord', Best Practice Catchments for Sustainable Dairying research project, and community-led land-care initiatives are also being implemented.

Rowan Strickland says given these large investments of time, effort and money in aquatic rehabilitation it is vital that realistic objectives are set to ensure cost effective outcomes.

Amongst other things researchers will be putting logs into streams to see how wooden structures, which are known to be important in creating habitat, might improve fish life; and looking at the effect of willows on rivers, both positive and negative.

This project involving NIWA, Cawthron, and Otago and Canterbury Universities will largely be based in the Waikato region, but some work will be conducted nationally in conjunction with the dairy industry looking at the streams they have been monitoring with their Best Practice Catchments project in Southland, South Canterbury, Westland, Taranaki and Waikato.

One of the most topical areas of research to receive funding involves determining environmental flow regimes for rivers, to guide sustainable water allocation. This will build on existing research on water allocation and its environmental effects.

Freshwater fisheries scientist John Hayes says "with water use increasing rapidly in this country, primarily to support the growth in the agricultural sector, improved water allocation decision-making is essential if we are to fairly and efficiently allocate water for environmental, cultural, social, and economic needs."

"The 'water rush' for intensified agriculture in dryland regions such as Canterbury in recent years, and the continuing interests in hydropower generation, has raised awareness that water is a limited resource and it has high value. Where big dollars are involved, clearly the more precise our estimates of sustainable allocation are, the better for the economy and the environment."

This project will also involve research on hydrological and environmental effects of water storage. The agricultural industry is looking more and more at water storage for solving security of supply problems when intensifying farming in dryland regions.

Most of the 'Environmental Flows' research will be done in Canterbury, with some also in Hawkes Bay, and Tasman.

For more information please contact:

Rowan Strickland
Manager – Coastal & Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute
Phone: +64 3 539 3258
Email:

or

Dr Roger Young
Freshwater Ecologist, Cawthron Institute
P: +64 3 539 3273
E:

or

Dr John Hayes, Cawthron Institute
Freshwater Fisheries Scientist
P: +64 3 539 3274
E: