River Lake studied the mixing of diagonal drain pump station with the lower Kaituna River. We used Rhotomine dye WT to understand how well the pump station discharge mixed across the Kaituna River before the intake for the new diversion to Maketū Estuary.
The work was done for Bay of Plenty Regional Council rivers and drainage team.
Rhodamine WT dye entering the Kaituna River from the Diagonal Drain pump station, 2.3 km upstream from the river mouth (9 Nov 2017). Photo by Andy Belcher.Lower Kaituna River facing towards Maketū Estuary. The borrow pits are visible on the true right of the river. At this location discharges from Diagonal Drain had mixed across 50% to 70% of the river, depending on the tide (9 November 2017). Photo by Andy Belcher.
Floating mats of the cyanobacteria Lyngbya sp. in an isolated section of the Maketu-Ongatoro Estuary. Reducing this cover of algae is one reason for the Kaituna River Re-Diversion Project (Bay of Plenty Regional Council).
