Freshwater

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

  • 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. 
  • Scientific muscle meets freshwater mussels

    Feature story
    NIWA scientists have made an important breakthrough in the battle to save New Zealand’s freshwater mussels.
  • Hydrology Sounds Interesting 2011

  • Fish Passage Assessment Tool

    The Fish Passage Assessment Tool has been developed to provide an easy to use, practical tool for recording instream structures and assessing their likely impact on fish movements and river connectivity.
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    Water storage solutions for irrigation schemes

  • Irrigation on pallic soils

    Previous research has identified significant unintended water loss (surface runoff and groundwater recharge) on pallic soils, predominately on hillslopes, under spray irrigation.
  • River forecasting: capabilities versus user requirements

    Research Project
    Currently there are gaps in understanding of user decision making processes and public needs and requirements for river forecasting in New Zealand. This project aims to bridge NIWA river forecasting aspirations and capabilities with both the public and decision makers’ requirements.
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    NZWaM - Hydro: Our partners

    The NZWaM – Hydro project is led by NIWA but all work is conducted in collaboration with our project partners.
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    NZWaM - Hydro: Use and applications

    NZWaM-Hydro is scalable, and the hydrological relationships in the model are transferable between locations.
  • NZ Water Model - Hydrology

    Research Project
    Bringing together leading scientific organisations and regional councils, this project aims to develop a sophisticated computer modelling framework that will enable users to accurately predict how much freshwater is available, where it has come from, and how quickly it moves through New Zealand catchments.
  • Scientists listen to the sound of photosynthesising seaweeds

    Media release
    NIWA scientists are hoping they may one day be able to “listen” to kelp forests in the waters around New Zealand to find out how they are faring.