Southland river in the national spotlight

The Waimea Stream in Balfour is the focus of attention this month, featuring as River of the Month on a video on the LAWA (Land, Air, Water Aotearoa) website.

Local farmers Brendon and David Stevens tell the story of an area that has some of the highest nitrate concentrations in the underground aquifers in the Southland region and the impact this was having on their water quality.

The video highlights the leadership role the community has taken in understanding the issues they face and coming up with their own solutions, based on advice and information gathered.

Environment Southland surface water quality scientist Roger Hodson said it was great that these farmers were improving their land management practices, as these changes will have subsequent benefits for water quality in the area.

The release of the video is timely as we head into winter, a time when a huge volume of nitrate is lost due to saturated soils and minimal grass growth.

It is a time when farmers need to be particularly careful about what is applied to the land and the video demonstrates the impact changes in farm management practice can have on water quality.

Mr Hodson said there was also better understanding about the time it takes for water to move through the system.

“Initial estimates put that at less than 25 years for water to move from rainfall on the land surface to the aquifer below, so it’s realistic to think that we could see improvements in our lifetime.”

The LAWA website is a New Zealand first and is a collaboration between New Zealand’s 16 regional and unitary councils, the Ministry for the Environment, Cawthron Institute and Massey University.

It displays information about water quality throughout the country, including freshwater and marine sites and a new section on water quantity is being launched this month.

Visit www.lawa.org.nz to view the video on the Waimea Stream or to check out water monitoring information for a site near you or from throughout the country.

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