The National Environmental Monitoring Standards (NEMS) project aims to ensure consistency in the way environmental monitoring data is collected and handled throughout New Zealand.
These documents prescribe technical standards, methods and other requirements associated with the continuous monitoring of a number of environmental parameters. The agencies that developed these standards are responsible for the majority of hydrological and continuous environmental related measurements within New Zealand.
It is recommended that these standards are adopted throughout New Zealand and that all data collected is also processed and quality coded appropriately. The degree of rigour in which the standard is applied, will depend on the quality of data sought.
Data consistency is critical for national level reporting and comparison of variables between regions. This not only requires consistency in methods for data collection and handling between agencies, but also requires the data to be collected according to best practice for the specific parameter or variable.
NEMS are fundamental for the supply of quality data to LAWA.
See http://www.nems.org.nz/ for further details and guidelines.