Freshwater management tools

This guide discusses design principles and provides high-level information about the likely performance of riparian buffers.

Constructed wetlands are a water quality restoration tool that can reduce levels of sediment, nutrients and microbes such as E. coli.

These booklets help provide guidance on the cultivation and restoration of native submerged macrophytes for environmental rehabilitation initiatives in freshwater and saltwater environments.

NIWA has developed a powerful software tool for the analysis of water quality data.

Quorer: a simple method for estimating deposited fine sediment

Few New Zealand lakes retain their indigenous vegetation, and the condition of many lakes is under threat from land-use changes and the invasion of alien aquatic plants.

This national GIS ‘layer’ enables reconnaissance-scale estimation of suspended-sediment yields from New Zealand’s rivers and streams. It has been developed by NIWA in collaboration with Landcare Research.

How healthy is your stream? SHMAK - the New Zealand Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit - has been designed to help you find out.

This manual prescribes a set of sampling and analysis protocols applicable to most of the common stream habitats in New Zealand.

Easing the resource consent process