2015 New Zealand’s Most Improved River Awards

2015 New Zealand’s Most Improved River Awards

For immediate release

The Ngarara Stream on the Kapiti Coast took out this year’s Supreme Award for New Zealand’s Most Improved River. The River Awards, run by the Morgan Foundation, recognise long-term improvement in water quality as recorded at over 600 Regional Council monitoring sites on many of the country’s rivers.

The second Most Improved River nationally was the Mangapapa River, which flows into the Manawatu River near Woodville, and the third Most Improved River was
Lucas Creek in Albany, Auckland.

Ngarara Stream Greater Wellington 16.2%pa

Mangapapa River Horizons 14.8%pa

Lucas Creek Auckland 12.7%pa

This year’s Awards were determined by the trend decline in nitrogen levels in the water (see below for a detailed explanation).

“It’s encouraging that many New Zealanders, councils and community organisations are working hard to make our rivers healthier”, said Andrew Gawith from the Morgan Foundation. “It’s hard to pinpoint any one action that has led to the observed declines in nitrogen in the rivers receiving the Awards. It often comes down to a combination of seemingly insignificant actions – riparian fencing and planting, restoring wetlands, changing the way farmers stock their land and manage stock effluent, and towns upgrading waste water treatment systems – that in total make a significant difference”.

The judging panel - Dr Roger Young (Cawthron Institute), Dr Clive Howard-Williams (NIWA) and Dr Mike Scarsbrook (Dairy NZ) - identified the Most Improved River in each region where suitable data was available.

The Regional Award winners were:

Region River and monitoring site trend improvement

Wellington Ngarara Stream at Field Way 16.2%pa

Horizons Mangapapa at Troup Rd 14.8%pa

Auckland Lucas Creek 12.7%pa

Canterbury Kaituna Stream at Recorder 10.0%pa

Southland Mimihau, Venlaw Forest 14.8%pa*

Waikato Piako River at Paeroa-Tahuna Rd Br 6.8%pa

Hawkes Bay Waipawa River at State Highway 50 4.2%pa

Northland Mangahahuru Stream at Apotu Rd 3.9%pa

Bay Of Plenty Nukuhou at Old Quarry 3.4%pa

Taranaki Mangaehu River, Raupuha Rd Bridge 3.3%pa

* Despite the high average annual decline in nitrogen, the Mimihau river was not awarded second place.

This was because the decline at Mimihau was cyclical, reflecting the natural reduction in nitrogen which occurs after a forest site is harvested and newly replanted. It is not a sustained downward trend.

River Stories

The Awards evening also featured stories from around the country relating to water management and the environment.

“All are inspiring examples of individuals, communities, organisations and businesses doing something positive and inspiring for New Zealand’s waterways”, said Gawith.

The two River Story Awards for 2015 went to:

The Pomahaka Farmers Water Care Group - farmers in this West Otago river catchment began monitoring their own water quality around a year ago.

Nutrient and sediment levels in streams they thought were pretty clean were at times far higher than they expected. "We didn't know how dirty it was, or what dirty was really," says dairy farmer Lloyd McCall. "People didn't comprehend what was in the river.  It was like...Holy Smack!" With the help of New Zealand Landcare Trust they’re now working hard on some solutions.

Wairarapa Moana - farmers and others in the lower Wairarapa valley have been restoring wetlands to help improve the water quality in Lake Wairarapa.

At Kaiwaiwai farm the owners have constructed a specially designed wetland that is showing promise as a nutrient filter. And at the Wairio Wetland, Ducks Unlimited are restoring more than 20ha of DOC land to a fully functioning wetland and bird sanctuary. These examples of wetland restoration and protection are happening all around New Zealand.

A Reo mo te Awa (voice for the river) Award was presented for the first time this year. The recipient, Dr Mike Joy, epitomises the nowledge, courage and determination needed to speak openly and honestly about the state of our waterways. Not surpringly, he has been accused of scaremongering, but his his message is getting through, slowly. He is an important voice for our rivers.

ends

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