Article

Towards implementation of robust monitoring technologies alongside freshwater improvement policy in Aotearoa New Zealand

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Abstract

International studies point out that some freshwater policy objectives are not achieved. This study describes that this is in part caused by shortcomings that include: the lack of targeted monitoring schemes to measure impact; a too small range of specific technologies rather than a wider suite of integrated multiple technologies; a too tight focus on sub-sets of stakeholders instead of the involvement of the wider range of end users; and poor trust building and technology explanations to end users. As an example, the New Zealand government is addressing widespread concern over the deterioration of the national freshwater resource by supporting a diverse portfolio of land and riparian management actions. Efforts to assess the effectiveness of these interventions and establish an evidence-based framework for future policies are however limited by the existing regional-scale freshwater monitoring infrastructure. Such hydrometric networks were established largely to assess the broader-scale regional ‘state’ of the environment and are generally out-of-phase with freshwater improvement actions that are implemented more typically at edge-of-field, farm or sub-catchment scales. Recent and rapid evolution in sensor technologies have created new opportunities to deliver information tuned to the appropriate parameters and frequencies needed to evaluate improvement actions. Despite this, the necessary transformative change in freshwater monitoring has yet to gather pace. In this study we explore barriers and solutions with the objective to better understand what is needed for successful integration of innovative monitoring technologies in a transitional environmental policy setting, using recent New Zealand policy directives as a case study. We use expert surveys and scenario testing to explore barriers to adoption to more robust and comprehensive monitoring required to establish the success, or otherwise, of freshwater improvement actions. This process reveals that rather than further innovations in technology, change in the practice of environmental monitoring is limited instead by the development of defensible and accepted guidelines on the application and effective deployment of existing sensors and methods. We demonstrate that improved knowledge exchange between engineers, scientists and practitioners can be addressed and propose a new decision support and communication tool to enable the selection of monitoring technologies and solutions fit-for-purpose to evaluate freshwater improvement outcomes on multiple scales involving multiple stakeholders.

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... In Aotearoa New Zealand ('NZ'), many aquatic ecosystems have been severely degraded by the effects of intensification of primary production, and land use practices maladapted to intensifying climate disturbances (NZ Government, 2016, 2019a, 2023a. There has been a policy shift over the last decade to reduce freshwater contaminants using a limits-based approach for acceptable concentrations of individual water quality attributes (Schiel and Howard-Williams, 2016;Larned et al., 2022;Westerhoff et al., 2022). Responsibility for managing freshwater ecosystems is devolved to the 16 regional and unitary councils ('regional councils'), and significant investment in science, monitoring, and freshwater modelling has occurred along with setting rules to manage land use activities (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2022;2024a). ...
... The limit-setting approach establishes 'environmental bottom-lines' to be progressively achieved over time. The success of limit-setting depends on well-designed, standardised long-term monitoring networks to support statistical analysis of trends in attribute states (Larned et al., 2022;Westerhoff et al., 2022;McDowell et al., 2024). Evaluation of regulatory and non-regulatory actions to reduce contaminants could also be informed by numerical modelling, new monitoring tools, and increased sampling frequency (Westerhoff et al., 2022;McDowell et al., 2024; Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2024a). ...
... The success of limit-setting depends on well-designed, standardised long-term monitoring networks to support statistical analysis of trends in attribute states (Larned et al., 2022;Westerhoff et al., 2022;McDowell et al., 2024). Evaluation of regulatory and non-regulatory actions to reduce contaminants could also be informed by numerical modelling, new monitoring tools, and increased sampling frequency (Westerhoff et al., 2022;McDowell et al., 2024; Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2024a). Limit-setting also requires accurate predictions of resource use, as it is based on causal relationships between different activities and related water-quality attributes (Larned et al., 2022). ...
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... Noting that the improvement of water quality is of paramount importance so that we can think of a future without scarcity, since drinking water in its natural form has been gradually decreasing in the world, due to incorrect and polluting releases, both by urbanized areas, as well as by agro-industry and other types of exploitation of natural resources (Manoj et al. 2022;Thakur & Devi 2022). Thus, advancing in the creation of subsidies for the establishment of better public policies, aimed at improving environmental quality as a whole (Westerhoff et al. 2022). ...
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Five streams in catchments with pastoral dairy farming as the dominant land use were monitored for periods of 7–16 years to detect changes in response to adoption of best management practices (BMPs). Stream water quality was degraded at the start with respect to N, P, suspended solids (SS) and E. coli concentrations, and was typical of catchments with intensive pastoral agriculture land use. Trend analysis showed a decrease in SS concentration for all streams, generally increasing water clarity, and lower E. coli concentrations in three of the streams. These are attributed to improved stream fencing (cattle exclusion) and greater use of irrigation for treated effluent disposal with less reliance on pond systems discharging to streams. Linkages between water quality and farm actions based on survey data were used to develop BMPs that were discussed at stakeholder workshops. Generic and specific BMPs were developed for the five catchments. The 3–7 year periodicity of major climate cycles, as well as market forces and a slow rate of farmer adoption of simple BMPs mean that monitoring programs in New Zealand need to be much longer than 10 years to detect changes caused by farmer actions. Long-term monitoring is also needed to detect responses to newly legislated requirements for improved water quality.
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The management of streams and rivers can be aided by knowledge of reference conditions. Data from >1000 sites across New Zealand was used to develop a technique to estimate median ammoniacal-N, clarity, Escherichia coli, filterable reactive phosphorus, nitrate-N, suspended solids, and total nitrogen and phosphorus values under reference conditions for streams and rivers as classified by the River Environment Classification (REC). The REC enabled us to account for natural variation in climate, topography and geology when estimating reference conditions. Values for minimally disturbed sites (i.e. <5% in intensive agriculture) were generally within the confidence limits for estimated reference values. Metrics that described: (1) the percentage of anthropogenic contribution to analyte values; and (2) the degree of enrichment beyond the reference conditions, showed that lowland sites classified as warm-wet, warm-dry or cool-dry exhibited the greatest anthropogenic input and enrichment. The consideration of natural variation by REC class informs the setting of water quality objectives through avoiding water quality limits or targets that are either too restrictive, and impossible to meet (e.g. below reference conditions), or too high, such that they have little ecological benefit. We recommend reference conditions be considered by regulatory authorities when assessing water quality impacts, objectives and limits.
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The Seine River is a highly artificialised catchment in Europe, comprising both productive agricultural areas and intense industrial and commercial activity. Due to its strategic importance, monitoring programs in the river started as early as the 1970s. The present study compiles and analyses this valuable data set (1970–2014), thoroughly describing the riverine section downstream of Paris and the estuary. We identify long-term trends and shifting patterns in nutrients and oxygen, and pay special attention to the river’s evolution after the year 2000, when the European Water Framework Directive came into force. The study has a manifest management perspective, and the results are discussed on the basis of the environmental quality standards proposed in current environmental regulations. The data show that water quality has improved remarkably over the past two decades, with sharp reductions of ammonium and phosphate and a progressive increase of dissolved oxygen levels. The amelioration is prominent in the estuary, where summer anoxic episodes have nearly disappeared. As a result, these three parameters are nowadays in good or very good condition throughout the year. The successful abatement of point sources contrasts, however, with the low effectiveness of the measures provided for the control of nutrients from diffuse sources. Nitrate concentration has increased by 150% since the early 1980s, and only very recently has the upward trend been reversed. Bold agri-environmental management measures are required if we are to prevent chronic pollution problems and truly restore the good ecological status of rivers.
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The Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes a new regulatory framework for the management of water bodies throughout the European Union. The Directive introduces new principles, importantly shifting policy towards Integrated Water Resource Management, and a more holistic approach to water quality comprising both ecological and chemical status. Owing to the emphasis the Directive places on it, monitoring plays an integral part in its success. In this paper the implications of implementing the WFD on monitoring requirements are reviewed and compared to previous arrangements in England and Wales. This paper demonstrates the challenge associated with making the transition from established monitoring networks to those that support a more integrated approach to water management. The need for integration of monitoring using ecological elements, the use of risk in the design of monitoring programmes, the collection of monitoring data to inform decision making and the active engagement with stakeholders are highlighted as some of the challenges of such a transition.
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This paper focuses on the application of various biomonitoring techniques in China. We report a study in the Pearl River Basin (Guangzhou) based on the application of diatom indices as well as a study on the waterways in Wuhan based on evaluation of toxicity (using phytotoxicity, Daphnia magna and Microtox™ tests) and the Extended Biotic Index (EBI). Regarding the diatom indices, acceptable results were obtained based on comparison of the chemical water quality level and the European and Japanese indices, despite a lack of taxonomic information. The toxicity tests applied to the Wuhan waterways (Yangtze and Han Rivers) produced interesting results and can be considered to represent a useful tool for water pollution control in this area. Application of the EBI in Wuhan produced results that were contradictory to the toxicological analyses, as there were no indications of toxicity, whereas EBI indicated poor water quality. It can be concluded that in principle, certain European biological indicators can be considered to represent feasible tools to be applied in China. However, further studies will have to be carried out to develop bioindices based on Chinese data sets. The use of bioindices based on macroinvertebrates is limited to less polluted and smaller rivers with a lithic river substratum, whereas diatom indices are also applicable under extreme conditions (e.g., under high pollution loads or in large river streams with sandy riverbed sediments through installing artificial substrates).
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1. There are multiple tools for scientific inference that seem rarely used in research examining the effects of stressors on rivers caused by human impacts. Very few of these scientific tools are ‘new’. While foundational to scientific methods, they seem to have been overlooked or forgotten. The thesis of this paper is that, by looking back to what used to be considered basic knowledge about scientific methods and the discipline of ecology, we may re‐learn some useful ways of improving survey designs and re‐framing scientific questions. 2. Two common barriers to strong inference are examined in detail in this paper: disentangling the effects of different stressors, so that we can confidently infer which ones are the causes of unacceptable environmental changes; and dealing with high variability among replicate observations. Poor information about causality means managers cannot know what rehabilitation or amelioration should be attempted. Poor fits of models to data lower confidence in inference. Commonly proffered solutions, which include large sample sizes; choosing ‘representative reaches’; or using complex multivariate statistics, do not solve these problems. 3. The solutions lie within the basic components of good experimental design, which apply as much to surveys as they do to experiments. Several pieces of practical advice are offered and explained, which include (i) the necessity to specify a precise mechanism of cause and effect in hypotheses, and what changes to common approaches this entails; (ii) some difficulties caused by scale‐ups that are implicit in the selection and measurement of variables, which necessitate changes to some standard protocols; (iii) the value of planned comparisons in surveys as ways of strengthening inference and employing approaches, like control species, where other forms of controls cannot be gained; (iv) the necessity to view random sampling as essential to the selection of sites, which means we should abandon the notion of ‘representative’ reaches; (v) to use sample compositing and sub‐sampling to optimise sampling effort at those replicates that provide degrees of freedom for hypothesis tests while cutting costs (vi) to be open to new forms of analysis, like quantile regression, which tests non‐traditional hypotheses about constraints, rather than mean or central responses, and which deals much better with sorting between the effects of multiple stressors. 4. Thematic implications : sorting between the effects of multiple stressors caused by human impacts needs the best possible scientific inference we can apply. Common forms of studies in the modern stream literature suggest we collectively know less now than we did 40–50 years ago because some fundamental aspects of strong inference and basic knowledge in ecology seem to have been forgotten or lost. This raises questions about the quality of ecological training provided at universities. Although some aspects of good design are seen as ‘too expensive’, cost per se is relative. A well‐designed programme that has been optimised for the funds available is far cheaper than the costs of poorly designed surveys that provide inaccurate information and predictions, which are more likely to lead to poor management decisions.
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Linkages between land management activities and stream water quality are reported for a 2480 ha catchment used for dairy farming, sheep–beef farming and forestry in Southland, New Zealand. Our approach was to reconcile measured loads of nutrients exported from the catchment with those estimated based on characterisation of farming practices within the catchment. The latter was based upon detailed surveys of farm practices and soil quality. Monthly stream monitoring showed that median nutrient (N and P), sediment and faecal bacteria concentrations exceeded guidelines recommended for surface waters. Measured specific yields for suspended sediment (SS), total N (TN) and phosphorus (P) discharged from the catchment were 58, 8.2 and 0.43 kg ha−1 year−1, respectively, for the 2001–2005 monitoring period. In comparison, model estimates of N and P losses in drainage and overland flow from farms in the catchment were 10.1 and 0.59 kg ha−1 year−1, respectively. Field measurements, farm management surveys and farm systems modeling have identified some land management practices that appear to be key sources of many of these pollutants. These sources include subsurface drainage systems (including the preferential flow of irrigated effluent through these soils), overland flow from the heavy soils used for dairy farming in the catchment and the practice of intensively wintering cows on forage crops. Modeling suggests that a significant improvement in catchment water quality could be achieved through the implementation of targeted best management practices (BMPs) on dairy farms in the catchment. These include (i) covered feedpad wintering systems for controlling N losses, (ii) nitrification inhibitor use on milking platforms, (iii) deferred irrigation and low rate application of farm dairy effluent and (iv) limiting soil Olsen P to economically optimum levels. The adoption of these BMPs will, in part, depend on their economic viability. This paper therefore presents a double-bottom-line analysis (i.e. environmental and economic) of some of these BMPs and discusses their potential to cost-effectively deliver improved water quality in the Bog Burn catchment.
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Lake Rotorua is a large (area 79 km2), shallow (mean depth 10.8 m), polymictic lake in central North Island, New Zealand. The lake is eutrophic, with a mean external aerial load of 18.5 mg m−2 d−1 for total nitrogen and 1.2 mg m−2 d−1 for total phosphorus. Blooms of cyanobacteria and occasional anoxia of bottom waters occur during summer (December–March). We used a vertically resolved water quality model, DYRESM–CAEDYM, to examine the relative importance of internal and external nutrient inputs on water column nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass, with particular emphasis on cyanobacteria. External nutrient loads associated with nine major inflows to the lake and three additional inflows representing smaller geothermal and coldwater flows and residual flows, were represented as inputs to the model. Other forcing inputs to the model included local meteorological data, discharge from the only outflow, the Ohau Channel, and measured rates of sediment nutrient release obtained from benthic chamber deployments which were used to prescribe ranges of sediment nutrient release that were simulated dynamically within the model. Profiles of water column nutrient concentrations, surface chlorophyll a concentrations and continuous temperature and dissolved oxygen measurements were used to validate the model. Simulated water column temperature and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and ammonium (NH4) concentrations closely matched field measurements, and captured the timing and duration of stratification events as well as subsequent changes in bottom water nutrient concentrations. Surface water concentrations of chlorophyll a were also similar between simulated and observed data. Model simulations indicate that reductions in sediment nutrient fluxes would be more effective in reducing cyanobacterial biomass than similar proportional reductions in catchment fluxes, due to the coincidence of large sediment nutrient release events with high cyanobacterial biomass. This finding indicates that only a significant and prolonged reduction in external loads, which in turn reduces internal loads, will ultimately reduce cyanobacterial biomass in Lake Rotorua.
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This paper introduces a special section devoted to participation and evaluation for sustainable river basin governance. The departing point for this research was the recognition that although there is a relative agreement regarding the need to develop new multi-dimensional, inclusive and plural approaches to water resource management, there is still a deficiency of related methodologies and tools. This acknowledgement has motivated the undertaking of the ADVISOR -- Integrated Evaluation for Sustainable River Basin Governance research project, which aimed at improving the understanding of evaluation processes, as part of river basin planning and management, and to test the use of specific tools to support the conduct of participatory processes. The paper starts with a discussion of the concept of integrated water resources management and an illustration of the water policies that have been adopted in different countries as a response to these trends. The conceptual framework that was developed in ADVISOR is then presented, as well as the main results from the ex-post analysis of the decision processes regarding five water related projects in different European countries. This analysis concluded that, in most situations, the decision-making processes fell short of including the interests, perceptions and values of affected parties. The remaining of the paper introduces the articles that form this special section, mostly devoted to the testing of new platforms for participation and deliberation. In the final section, a discussion on the assumptions and limitations of deliberative processes is presented, based on the results from the application of the different methods. Further research needs on the integration of different deliberative tools and on the integration of deliberation with decision processes are identified.
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To date, many water quality monitoring networks for surface freshwaters have been rather haphazardly designed without a consistent or logical design strategy. Moreover, design practices in recent years indicate a need for cost-effective and logistically adaptable network design approaches. There are many variables that need to be included in a comprehensive yet practical monitoring network: a holistic appraisal of the monitoring objectives, representative sampling locations, suitable sampling frequencies, water quality variable selection, and budgetary and logistical constraints are examples. In order to investigate the factors which affect the development of an effective water quality monitoring network design methodology, a review of past and current approaches is presented.
Ministry for the Environment and Ministry for Primary Industries
  • New Zealand Government
Indigenous Māori knowledge and perspectives of ecosystems
  • Harmsworth
Measuring the benefits of management actions - Mitigation effectiveness, Monitoring Design
  • O Ausseil
  • J Clapcott
  • Z Etheridge
  • D Hamilton
  • S Linke
  • F Matheson
  • M Ramsden
  • D Selbie
  • C Tanner
  • A Whitehead
  • A Bradley
Deltares Nitrate App
  • J Rozemeijer
The Mauri Compass - a Mātauranga Māori Tool for Assessing the Mauri of Water
  • I Ruru
  • W Kanz
  • T Snazelle
Evaluation of fluorometers for the in situ monitoring of chlorophyll and/or cyanobacteria
  • M Pires
High-resolution phosphorus transfers at the catchment scale: the hidden importance of non-storm transfers
  • Jordan
Survey design and laboratory analyses for the monitoring of lake sediment quality
  • S Waters
MPI opposed nitrogen bottom line over economic concerns
  • R N Zealand
Up to 800,000 New Zealanders may have increased bowel cancer risk due to nitrates in water
  • R N Zealand