Actions that make a difference to waterway health

Throughout New Zealand, there are many initiatives underway to improve water quality and aquatic ecosystem health. These initiatives include action by individuals, iwi/hapū, communities, industry, and central and local government – often working together to address waterway health issues.

Despite these actions, freshwater outcomes are still not meeting most community expectations. Is this because the actions are not the right ones? Or is there much greater intensity and scale needed? To answer these questions, we need consistent information on what actions are occurring where and to what extent. The national Healthy Waterways register was developed for people to record this information. The shared data and stories from the register are presented on the LAWA Actions for Healthy Waterways topic.

Recording and reporting matters

Taking actions to improve waterways and reporting these actions matters because it helps track progress, understand what works, and shows how much effort is still needed to improve water health. By sharing actions and stories, communities can learn from each other, build on successful efforts, and work together to protect our freshwater ecosystems. Reporting these actions also helps ensure that the right steps are being taken and that we are moving towards meeting water quality goals.

We are at the start of the journey towards one day being able to link actions to water quality outcomes. The Healthy Waterways database currently provides LAWA with a snapshot of actions entered by organisations that have agreed to make their data publicly available at a catchment scale and/or agreed to share their stories. Over time, the goal is to track all catchment actions and progress year by year.

If the register is widely used, the information in it will help us understand the benefits of our actions on water quality and scale of the effort still needed to meet our expectations for water quality and freshwater ecosystems.

Actions

There are a range of actions that can potentially be used to improve waterway health. Some are specific to particular issues, e.g. using precision application of fertiliser instead of broad application to address problems with nutrients getting into waterways. Other actions have multiple benefits, e.g. stock exclusion helps to address issues related to nutrients, sediment, faecal bacteria, and damage to waterway habitats.

The actions currently being recorded by the Healthy Waterways register are stock exclusion, riparian planting, erosion control, and wetland protection and restoration. These actions are commonly adopted and expected to have a wide range of benefits for freshwater ecosystem health. Future reporting on farm plans will provide a broad indication of the scale of actions underway on-farm and progress on identified farm plan actions.

Stock exclusion

Stock exclusion is an action that keeps animals away from waterbodies and prevents their waste (which contains bacteria and nutrients) getting directly into waterways. It also protects riverbanks and streambeds from trampling that can lead to erosion, sediment runoff, and habitat damage. Fencing waterways is one of the simplest and most direct ways of keeping stock out of rivers, lakes, streams, and away from their banks and margins. While excluding stock from waterways provides some benefits to water quality, the benefits will be even greater if the area between the river and the fence is also planted.

To quantify stock exclusion, the measure used in the Actions for Healthy Waterways topic is the length of stream bank within the catchment where stock are excluded. We recognise that stock exclusion is not as needed in urban areas, forested areas, or conservation land. Therefore, stock exclusion progress is recorded using the length of stream fenced versus the total river bank length in agricultural parts of the catchment.

Riparian planting

Planting riparian zones benefits the environment by filtering sediment and nutrients before they reach waterways. It also helps to limit livestock access if they are not already fenced out. Additionally, these plants provide shade to cool water temperatures and control algal growth, enhance habitats for native wildlife, and can help prevent bank erosion. Erosion from riverbanks is a significant contributor to sediment in rivers, lakes, and estuaries.

To quantify the progress made, riparian planting is shown on the topic as recorded length of stream bank with riparian planting, and the number of plants planted (categorised as indigenous, introduced or other). Riparian strips in forestry areas can also be recorded in the register and reported on the Actions for Healthy Waterways topic.

Wetland protection

Wetlands provide a water cleansing role that protects downstream environments by absorbing and processing nutrients and filtering solids. Wetlands also improve water quality by slowing water flow which allowing particles to settle.

They also are an essential habitat for flora and fauna. Wetlands are significantly threaten by weeds.

It is estimated that only 10% of New Zealand’s historical inland wetlands remain, therefore protection and restoration of wetlands is a high priority.

The Actions for Healthy Waterways topic reports actions to protect or restore existing wetlands, and actions to create wetlands. The main measure is the area of wetlands recorded in a catchment as under restoration and under construction. It also reports the length of perimeter that is fenced and the length planted. Also reported is the area of wetlands under protection by QEII covenants.

Mapping existing wetlands is complex and can require ecological expertise. The wetland areas referred to in this topic are determined by the area where actions are occurring, and are not intended to accurately describe the area of wetland in a catchment. For example, a restoration project may target only a certain part of a wetland where exotic plants need to be controlled, so the area recorded in the topic will be much smaller than the actual size of the wetland.

Erosion control

Erosion is a major source of sediment flowing into rivers, lakes and estuaries. Sediment reduces water clarity, clogs up the gills of aquatic life, smothers important habitat, and reduces the quality of food resources for aquatic organisms.

Erosion control actions help to stabilise the land which is good for land owners and communities as it reduces flood risk, while also reducing soil loss and supporting freshwater and downstream estuarine and coastal systems.

There are over 1.15 million hectares of land across Aotearoa New Zealand that are classified as Highly Erodible Land which does not have woody vegetation cover and is outside the Conservation Estate. Two thirds of this land is within 5 regions: Manawatū-Wanganui, Canterbury, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Northland (MWLR analysis 2020). Erosion in these regions is a significant challenge particularly given the impact of extreme weather events.

The Actions for Healthy Waterways topic reports the area of land that has been retired or planted for erosion control.

Farm plans

Farm plans are prepared for a farm, horticulture or forestry property to manage their environmental risks. The register collates area of land in a catchment that has been recorded as having a farm plan. The actions in these plans are reported in six categories (Land and Soil, Effluent, Water and irrigation, Waterways, Nutrient and General). These categories align with Good Farm Practice Principles agreed by primary industries in New Zealand (Beef and Lamb New Zealand, Dairy NZ, Horticulture New Zealand, Federated Farmers, Ministry of Primary Industries, Ministry for the Environment 2018; Good Farming Practice – Action Plan for Water quality).

New regulations were introduced into the Resource Management Act (RMA) in 2023 requiring farms over a certain size to get a certified Freshwater Farm Plan, however the national requirements are currently on hold. It's expected that Freshwater Farm Plans will be rolled out over the coming years through either regional or national regulations. The reporting may need refinement depending on the final shape of the Freshwater Farm Plans system. The Healthy Waterways register also records historical work on farm planning. This allows us to understand what is currently happening on farms, as well as what has been done on farms in the past.

Sharing stories

Research during the development of the register found that people strongly wanted to share their stories and explain what actions they were doing and what they had learnt.

By sharing their restoration stories via the register and LAWA, organisations can inform their local communities about the work they are doing and encourage other groups to take action within their own catchments to improve water quality.

Catchment scale

The benefits of actions will be seen in waterways at a catchment scale. Therefore, it’s important to collate actions together at this scale so they can be related to waterway health monitoring site data.

Actions are also reported at a catchment scale (or larger) to address any concerns about the confidentiality of information at a property scale.

Be counted

If you or a group you know are taking action for healthy waterways, be counted! You can record the type and extent of your action through the Healthy Waterways register to have it added to the database and included in the LAWA Actions for Healthy Waterways topic. You can also add stories about your work, to inspire and inform others to make a difference.