Freshwater

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.

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.

New Zealand is a land of erosion. We’re losing about 192 million tonnes of soil a year, according to the latest report Our Land 2018, from the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics NZ.

Humans don't always make it easy on fish to get where they are going. New Zealand's first national set of Fish Passage Guidelines – co-developed by NIWA - is expected to help.

A project to restore a stream catchment in Kaikōura—damaged in the 2016 earthquake—is being described as inspirational by NIWA scientists.

Cathy Kilroy is quick to admit she’s a person who doesn’t like throwing anything away.

The hard concrete surfaces that characterise New Zealand towns and cities are barely likely to register as a problem with most people. But they're never far from the minds of our urban water researchers.

Methods/tools that can be used to assess ecological flow requirements in rivers with varying degrees of hydrological alteration and instream values.

NZ River Maps is a simple, yet flexible, web-based tool that allows users to map and interrogate estimates for over 100 freshwater variables for the entire national river network.

EFSAP is a water planning and management tool designed to assist with setting regional or large-scale water resource use limits for rivers.

On the bottom of New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs is an underwater garden of vivid green, pinks and inky blues.

NIWA freshwater scientists have completed monitoring the ultra-clear water of the Te Waikoropupū Springs near Takaka.