Southern Coastal

The Maraetotara River is a 2nd order spring-fed river with its headwaters located on the Maraetotara Plateau 32 km from where it discharges at Te Awanga within Hawke Bay. The river has a catchment area of 182.2 square kilometres and a mean annual flow of 1.116 cubic metres per second (cumecs). The catchment has a soft sedimentary geology, making it prone to stream bank erosion.

The Waingnongoro and Pouhokio are both 4th order streams with headwaters originating in the Te Apiti Valley and discharging to sea at the coastal settlement of Waimarama on the Pacific coast. Both streams are comparatively small with catchment areas of 23.5 square kilometres and 37.7 square kilometres respectively. The Waingongoro Stream mean annual flow is 0.331 cumecs (short record Jan 09 – Jul 10), and the Pouhokio Stream mean annual flow is 0.713 cumecs (at Allens Bridge). These catchments have hard sedimentary geology. In 2015 the Waingongoro stream was rediverted back to its original course by the Waimarama marae, while retaining some flow through the old course to maintain habitats.

The Mangakuri Stream is a spring fed system with slow water velocity and it is usually dominated by aquatic macrophytes. The soft sedimentary geology of the catchment provide for extensive reaches of boggy / muddy substrate which may be interrupted occasionally by small pebble reaches. There is extensive stream bank erosion caused by stock access and freshes that may come through during storm events. Landuse within the catchment is predominantly sheep and beef farming.

The Waipuka Stream discharges to Ocean Beach. The stream is unsuitable for recreation but Ocean Beach is popular for recreation.

Land use within the catchments is predominantly pastoral farming with small coastal urban development in the lower reaches.

The habitat value of these streams is average for most reaches except for the Maraetotara River upstream of Waimarama Rd, which has been targeted for extensive riparian restoration since 2003, and the Waingorongo Stream which has a Queen Elizabeth II National Trust Reserve in its upper reaches. These reaches provide good to excellent habitat for instream life as the fencing off of stock and planting of native trees provide good shade plus sediment and nutrient trapping capacity.
The Maraetotara River is recognised for its value as an eel and trout fishery. The Waimarama catchment streams (Waingongoro and Pouhokio Streams) also have eel fishery and a cultural value but do not contain trout.