Analysing water quality data just got easier

Timetrends

Analysing water quality data just got easier

A new software programme for analysing water quality data, ‘Time Trends’, has been released by NIWA. Time Trends provides a robust yet simple-to-use tool, and has been developed with a particular emphasis on meeting requirements for State of the Environment (SoE) reporting.

Time Trends will save time and resources for regional councils undertaking SoE analysis and reporting, by making life much easier for the people who carry out trend analyses. It does this by providing a series of linked procedures to import data, plot, and explore time series patterns, and analyse for trends using recognised statistical methods.

Time Trends is already in use – for example, Auckland Regional Council recently contracted NIWA to carry out a regional SoE analysis of both freshwater and saline environments using the software.

By reducing time and costs associated with SoE reporting, regional councils may be able to increase the frequency of reporting. A potential benefit of more frequent analyses is a reduction in response time for management action on emerging environmental issues.

The development of Time Trends was funded by Envirolink and the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology, and sponsored by Northland Regional Council. Time Trends is available through the National Centre for Water Resources:

See the Time Trends page.