Freshwater

We provide public information on river, lake, and groundwater conditions across New Zealand including freshwater quantity and quality.

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    Individual instructions

    Instructions for using Nalgene Storm Water Sampler bottles and DGTs.
  • Guidance manual

    The guidance manual provides methods for sampling urban streams and stormwater
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    Instructional videos

    Video guides for installing the Nalgene Bottles and DGT's
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    Cost-effective sampling for urban streams and stormwater

    Water quality in urban streams and stormwater systems is frequently poor and highly variable, across both space and time. Traditional monthly grab sampling is rarely adequate to characterise contaminant concentrations during wet weather events.
  • Freshwater fish swim their all for science

    The tiny inanga have been plucked from Waikato streams and held in a darkened laboratory for the last month, undertaking highly advanced testing to find the strongest, fittest and fastest fish.
  • Freshwater fish swim their all for science

    Media release
    In a secret training location on the outskirts of Hamilton, a squad of whitebait is being put through its paces by fish scientists.
  • International climate experts gather in Wellington

    Media release
    Weather and climate experts from around the world are meeting in Wellington next week to discuss the critical need for accurate forecasting to cope with a changing climate.
  • Plastic pollution processes in rivers

    Research Project
    Most of the plastic in the ocean originates on land, being carried to the estuaries and coasts by rivers. Managing this plastic on land before it reaches the river could be the key to stemming the tide of marine-bound plastics. The aim of this project is to understand the sources and fate of plastic pollution carried by urban rivers using the Kaiwharawhara Stream as a case study.
  • Scientist collects rubbish to rid rivers of plastics

    Feature story
    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.
  • The science of art or the art of science…

    Feature story
    If you think science and art have nothing in common, think again. At environmental science institute NIWA, it’s all about one inspiring the other.
  • The eel earbone detective

    Feature story
    As a young child growing up on an Irish farm, one of Eimear Egan’s chores was to regularly clean out the well from where her family drew its drinking water. In the well lived a large eel that, no matter how many times it was shifted, just kept coming back.
  • NIWA scientist throws light on the Red Zone

    Feature story
    Christchurch’s Red Zone is to be the focal point of a scientific experiment involving street lights and insects over summer.