River Lake has been working with Bay of Plenty Regional Council to complete a report on the state and trends of water quality in Bay of Plenty rivers.
Over the ten year period 2009 to 2018 the Bay of Plenty river monitoring sites have shown overall worsening trends for total phosphorus (TP), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) and nitrate (NNN); but overall improving trends for absorbance (A440), total ammonia (NH4-N) and electrical conductivity.
River Lake is supporting the Otamakaokao Kaitiaki Trust to restore the mauri of Awatapu Lagoon, Whakatane . We are starting with riparian planting. So far this spring 2019, 45 community volunteers have helped plant 2500 wetland plants and install a small floating nursery.
This project is a partnership between Otamakaokao Kaitiaki Trust and Halo Whakatane. It is supported by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Environmental Enhancement Fund.
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.
Setting nutrient limits for complex ecosystems is challenging. We used multiple lines of evidence to set robust nutrient limits to safeguard the macrophyte community in Waituna Lagoon.
Read more in our paper on setting nutrient limits for lakes (click the link below).