Pollution

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.

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.

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.

NIWA offers a range of standard toxicity tests for both freshwater and marine environments.

Estuaries are at the bottom of the freshwater drainage network and, effectively, are a part of it. This means that every time we act to protect and enhance streams and rivers we are also benefiting the estuary at the downstream end.

When soils erode, sediments are washed into waterways.

NIWA's research on freshwater monitoring and reporting is one of three research areas within the 'Values, Monitoring and Outcomes' (VMO) programme led by Landcare Research.

As we have mentioned many times, new species can be found literally at our door step. But who has found a new species in their pantry?

A new method of testing air quality in towns around New Zealand has been developed by NIWA scientists that could revolutionise the way communities can measure and control pollution.

Changes in New Zealand air quality due to COVID-19 level restrictions.

Understanding and predicting the sources of contaminants, developing technologies to clean up the sources, and understanding the consequences of water quality degradation for aquatic ecosystems and human use of waterways.