Key points

This indicator measures the faecal bacteria and water clarity in our rivers and streams. It is measured as an average 'pass rate' for two water quality measures: water clarity at baseflow; and Escherichia Coli (E.coli) – single sample.  If water contains significant levels of ‘bad bugs’ from human and animal faeces, then recreational activities such as swimming, kayaking and water-skiing can be unsafe.  Other contaminants such as fine silts and clays reduce the clarity of the water, making it difficult to see and avoid submerged hazards like snags.

• River and stream water quality for contact recreation is poorer in the Hauraki area and lower Waikato River catchment.  This largely reflects the greater intensity of land use in lowland parts of the Region, particularly in lowland Waikato, with higher levels of faecal bacteria and fine silts from sources such as agricultural and urban runoff.
• Historical trend data shows a decline in water quality in Lowland Waikato rivers and streams.  Between 1998-2002 and 2006-2010 (on a five-year moving average basis), the proportion of ‘unsatisfactory’ water samples in Lowland Waikato rivers and streams increased from 63% to more than 89%.

Proportion of all samples collected during 2006-2010 which met the ‘excellent’, ‘satisfactory’ and ‘unsatisfactory’ standards for recreation in Waikato rivers and streams

Source: Waikato Regional Council

Proportion of all regional rivers samples collected between 1998 and 2010 (shown as 5 year moving average) which met ‘unsatisfactory’ standard for swimming

Source: Waikato Regional Council

What agencies are doing

• Environment Waikato has classified different bodies of water into different management classes. These classes help us to manage water use and protect water quality values. One class is contact recreation, which provides safe standards for contact recreation water.
• Environment Waikato manages and requires the monitoring of resource consents to take water or discharge waste water to rivers, or to dam or divert rivers and streams.
• Environment Waikato tracks changes in water quality for contact recreation to update this indicator and to assist policy making and consent decisions.
• Environment Waikato's Clean Streams project provides advice and financial support to encourage and support farmer efforts to reduce the impacts of farming on waterways through fencing and planting waterway margins.
• We support Care groups involved in riparian (stream bank) management such as planting and fencing.
• Over 200 River and Us programmes involving more than 100 schools have been run.

What you can do to help

• Fence off streams, rivers, swamps, wetlands and seeps to prevent stock access.
• Plant banks of waterways to help stabilise the banks and trap contaminants.
• Make sure dairy shed effluent irrigators are operating effectively and are moved frequently to prevent effluent ponding and runoff into waterways.
• Avoid break-feeding or mob-stocking close to waterways, especially in wet weather.
• Form a Care group with your neighbours to discuss and implement better land management practices to protect your local river and stream.
• Install stormwater detention areas in new subdivisions to improve water quality (less silt and animal faeces reaches the rivers and streams). Find out more about activities requiring consents from Environment Waikato.

More information

More detail on this indicator, including how and where this information is collected, is available here.

What we want to achieve

The community outcomes we are seeking to achieve by improving river water quality for recreation are:

• The iconic landscapes and natural features of our environment define and sustain us. We respect and celebrate them as taonga.
• Our natural environment is protected and respected. Its ecological balance is restored, its air, soil and water quality is improved and its native biodiversity is enhanced.
• The traditional role of iwi and hapu as kaitiaki is acknowledged, respected and enabled.
• Our region’s waterways have consistently high water quality.