The Essential Guide to NZ Freshwater Assessments

In New Zealand, assessing the freshwater networks is fundamental to understanding the health of our waterways.

A comprehensive assessment will help understand where the key pressures are, what works to improve resilience in waterways and how waterways are responding to changes in their catchments. This understanding will help with local environmental decision making and resource allocation, secure regulatory compliance, inform resource consents, and guide ecological restoration projects.

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What are Freshwater Assessments?

Freshwater Assessments are the water quality and freshwater ecology assessments we conduct to help understand effects on the freshwater systems around us.

Many industries and land uses will have regulations in place that we test against to understand if they are having adverse effects on our waterways and what needs to be done to improve these conditions or prevent them from degrading further.

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These assessments could be required as part of:

Stream Ecological Valuations (SEV)

Stormwater and wastewater effects statements

Farm Freshwater Plans

National Environmental Standards for Freshwater

National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management

Assessments of Environmental Effects

National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry

Site-Specific Environmental Management Plans

As well as other requirements from the Resource Management Act or further national, regional & territorial planning requirements.

With comprehensive freshwater assessments that are completed correctly first time, costs can be saved in the long run, and our rivers, lakes and streams can be healthier.

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How to engage with a Freshwater Specialist

Before reaching out to a specialist, it’s useful to consider what your objectives are and any specific regulatory requirements.

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If you’re unsure of what regulatory requirements may need to meet, or what needs to be done, you can contact us with any information you currently have, and our specialists will work with you to identify what assessments will best suit your requirements and any specific questions that need to be answered:

CONTACT US

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Morphum offers a team of highly qualified specialists with expertise in various freshwater assessments. You can contact us to discuss your needs in detail via email, phone, or by filling out a contact form on our website.

After reviewing the information you provide, our specialists will prepare a detailed proposal outlining the scope of work, timeline, and costs, for you to review before proceeding.

Freshwater Specialists will need access to the site to conduct the assessments. This might include permission to enter private land, access to existing data, and any relevant environmental reports or historical data. Clear communication with landowners and stakeholders is crucial to facilitate safe access.

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What Freshwater Specialists Measure

Freshwater assessments typically involve the collection and analysis of different parameters to assess water quality and ecological health. Specialists may test for:

• Physical Parameters: Temperature, turbidity, flow rate, dissolved oxygen, suspended and deposited sediment.

• Chemical Parameters: pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient concentrations (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus), and presence of pollutants (e.g., heavy metals, hydrocarbons).

• Bacterial Parameters: Escherichia coli (E. coli) and total coliforms.

• Biological Parameters: Aquatic plants, macroinvertebrates and fish.

• Ecological context: watercourse widths, depths, habitats and bed material, bank stability, fish passage and riparian vegetation

The findings of these assessments determine the current condition of the freshwater ecosystem and identify any potential stressors, which will feed into the management actions to address these.

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Receiving Results and Next Steps

The specialist will provide a technical report detailing the findings of the assessment. This report will offer conclusions regarding the ecological health of the water body and recommendations for any necessary actions.

In some cases, a meeting or presentation may be arranged to go over the results with stakeholders.

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Based on the findings, the Freshwater Specialist may suggest various actions, such as mitigating impacts on freshwater ecosystems, minimising soil erosion and managing sediment in waterways, or designing restoration projects to improve habitat quality and ecosystem function.

Continued monitoring may be recommended to track changes in water quality and freshwater ecology, including fish passage, over time or to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented actions, depending on the requirements from regulatory bodies or the conditions of the site.

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Morphum can provide ongoing monitoring services, or one-off assessments to ensure compliance with regulatory standards and to support adaptive management strategies.

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To meet your regulatory requirements first time and help protect our environment, contact Morphum today: