Local knowledge and community consultation have been central to the last three months of work for the first water monitoring review since Te Waikoropupū Springs Water Conservation Order came into effect (2023).
The review aims to gather information about the catchment and its monitoring needs.
Murray Close a Senior Science Leader at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) is conducting the review which will be presented formally to Council in the New Year.
“I've been talking to a lot of people with experience in the catchment and those with knowledge of the springs and cave systems,” said Mr Close.
The recharge system is far from straight forward as when the Tākaka River is in flood, there is the possibility of the recharge system going in reverse. This can cause a backflow from the Tākaka River into the cave system, as an example Spittal Springs, with poor quality water.
“Local knowledge from cavers about such events as has been a major assistance in identifying potential monitoring sites where the source is clearly known and consistent.”
Work has been completed on a framework that sets out the goals for a future monitoring program and criteria for selecting the sites, the parameters to be analysed, and the frequency which to analyse them from.
There are some major sources of water coming in from the western and southern hills and from the marble highlands in the east, as well as from the land use in the valley floor.
In line with the Court’s vision for an early warning system, effective monitoring in those areas for potential increased levels of nitrogen and the threats to the Springs would provide in-time results of increasing risks.
Confidence in testing.
“We can have a lot of confidence in the data that has been collected since 2018 because of the replicate sample comparisons that were taken,” said Mr Close. These replicate sample comparisons show that both methods used for measuring nitrate since 2018 provide similar results.
Long term monitoring time series, like we have at Te Waikoropupū Springs, can assist to identify outliers. It is these that can cause high or low deviations in the expected range of results and lead to incorrect conclusions about water quality.
Work undertaken for the monitoring review identified the same outliers as John Stark did in 2015 (freshwater ecological consultant), as Magali Moreau (Groundwater Geochemist, GNS) did in 2021, and as Roger Young (Freshwater Ecosystems Manager, Cawthron) and Chris Hickey did in 2024.
The review will be completed this year and formally presented to Council in the New Year.
Mr Close was accompanied by Joseph Thomas Senior Resource Scientist - Water & Special Projects.
Monday 30 September
I flew up to Nelson and met Joseph at TDC in Tākaka.
We visited potential monitoring sites in East Tākaka area, including five wells and the water supplies from Gorge Creek and Ironstone Creek. Both the water supplies had easy access to taps located within 10 m of the road near the bridges over the respective creeks. They look very promising as monitoring sites that will provide a good indication of water quality from the marble uplands.
Meeting with Freshwater and Land Advisory Group (FLAG) members: The FLAG group was a collaborative community group supported by TDC that reviewed freshwater management in the catchment between 2104 and 2019. I met with Greg Anderson and Mick Simmons
(I was meeting with other FLAG members in other meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday).
Following the presentation outlined above, we discussed sampling procedures and the distribution of gorse and broom in the catchment. Mick gave some examples of where gorse and broom had been flourishing for a period and then had been succeeded by higher canopy native forest.
Tuesday 1 October
Meeting with Community Board: Present were Grant Knowles (Deputy Chair), Henry Dixon, Cr Chris Hill, and Robert Hewison from the Community Board and Erin Hawke, John Bullock, and Claire Webster from TDC. Apologies from Abby Langford (Chair) and Cr Celia Butler. Kat Bunting (TDC) was online.
Following the presentation outlined above, we discussed some of the implications of the different analytical methods that have been used over time and that current methods from both labs being used were robust and compatible with each other.
Cr Chris Hill suggested that it would be good to have a community presentation of the final monitoring programme at the end of the process once it has been accepted by TDC.
Met with the FAMA group: Present were Cherie & Rob Chubb, Sally Ann Neill, Jeremy Savage, Corrigan Sowman, Lorraine Crawford, Robert Rosser, Graham Ball.
There was a lot of interest in the monitoring plan and the presentation outlined above. There was lots of discussion regarding the plan and lots of farm management-related issues.
Keen to have experiments that would demonstrate what management practices were making a difference. Which practices were useful? This would be separate from the monitoring programme but could be very useful. Not sure how these would be funded.
Discussion about lags from what happens on the land surface and how long this takes to reach the aquifer(s) and Te Waikoropupū Springs. Can be very dependent on recharge events and their intensity – also how does this interact with different types of sinkholes? What is the best farm management for sinkholes and is there evidence to support this?
The assumption is that all organic nitrogen in rivers from forested areas is converted into nitrate within the toxic marble aquifer. Has this been measured? There should be data and information coming from the proposed monitoring programme that will help to address this question.
Rob Chubb noted that at his bore there is a 20m positive head gradient which implies that nitrate in the water enters the AMA further upgradient.
It was noted that land use on Tākaka Hill has varied over the past century from podocarp forest, logged, burnt, grazed and re-generated. Is there any impact or legacy from these activities?
Wednesday 2 October
Meeting with Ngati Tama: I met with Margie Little (Chair) and Willow Milligan. Willow is developing a cultural health monitoring plan for the Te Waikoropupū Springs and is keen to achieve synergies with this monitoring plan.
Following the presentation outlined above, we discussed the recent report that Young & Hickey have produced (June 2024) and their discussions about the forms of N in rivers coming from forested catchments and the correlation with the Southern Oscillation Index. I sent a copy of that report to Willow.
We also discussed the cultural health monitoring plan that Willow is developing.
Meeting with Kevin Moran (Save our Springs):Following the presentation outlined above, we discussed some of the issues and concerns that he sees with the springs and their management. He has written a couple of books about the springs.
Meeting with FOGB: I met with Gordon Mather and Andrew Yuill for an hour at the TDC Tākaka office.
Following the presentation outlined above, we discussed how their concerns in 2017 had led to the development of a more accurate laboratory methods by GNS. I discussed the identification and treatment of outliers in the Te Waikoropupū Springs nitrate time series and that the current sampling procedures and lab methods seem to be reproducible and robust.
Thursday 3 October
We visited the site of bore 6539 located on David Scotland/Kerry Anne Neal farm. The standpipe for this bore had been knocked over. We inspected the bore with David Scotland (landowner), and it seemed that the bore would be fine for monitoring once there had been re-installation of new headworks (a cap and either a cover or new standpipe), and the well thoroughly purged.
We noted that there had been lots of rain overnight and that it had varied significantly within the catchment, with around 50 mm in Tākaka township and around 200 mm at Canaan on Tākaka Hill, and about 145 mm at the farm.
I then left to return to Nelson for my flight back to Christchurch.
Many thanks to Joseph who accompanied me on the site visits and shared with me his extensive knowledge of the Tākaka catchment and the complex interactions between the different hydrogeological components, as well as an appreciation of the history and beautiful scenery of the area.
The first independent review since Te Waikoropupū Springs Water Conservation Order came into force began with a visit in mid- July 2024 to the catchment and key monitoring sites.
Murray Close, a Senior Science Leader at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), has been engaged to conduct the review.
Mr Close, a pioneer of research into groundwater contamination over the last 44 years, has led multi-agency, multi-disciplinary research teams. His research focused on the transport and fate of contaminants in NZ groundwater systems and supported the development of new investigatory methods for the area above the water table referred as the vadose zone.
“My purpose is to carry out an independent review of the monitoring associated with Te Waikoropupū Springs,” said Mr Close.
“This first week into the review was structured so that I would get a good understanding of the catchment, knowledge of the key monitoring sites, and to meet with the key groups and people involved with the Water Conservation Order (WCO) for the Te Waikoropupū Springs (TWS).
“A focus of my work is the Court’s request for an early warning system to detect changes in the Springs water quality. This would mean monitoring up-gradient water that is moving into the springs and could give us timely warning of changes in quality to accommodate early warning of any water quality changes up-gradient so to allow for effective remedial action.
“This first week of the review process has proved invaluable. I travelled around the catchment and now have increased understanding of the complexity of the Spring’s different hydrogeological elements such as the limestone, mudstone, marble, and gravels through which the water from various parts of the catchment can flow.
“Meeting residents, a lot of whom have been either living in the catchment area for a long time or have been involved with the catchment and in the process of the water conservation order, was a great opportunity to hear firsthand their views.
“Next steps include a review of relevant evidence and reports presented at the hearings. I will be wanting to talk with more people associated with the catchment to progress my review of the present monitoring and recommendations for the future.
“Early October I plan to have a draft of the review for feedback with the final report and recommendations to Council staff late December.”
Public release of the report is planned for the first quarter of 2025 following formal adoption by council.
Mr Close was accompanied by Joseph Thomas Senior Resource Scientist - Water & Special Projects and met with:
Monday 8 July
Leonie Rae (CEO), Rob Smith (acting Group Manager Information, Science & Technology), John Ridd (Group Manager Service & Strategy), and Mirka Langford (Team Lead Soils and Land Use). Councillor Kit Maling who had attended most of the TWS WCO hearings, Kat Bunting who is the catchment facilitator for the Tākaka catchment, Lisa McGlinchey (planner involved with TWS), Trevor James who works on the surface water quality issues and John Bullock who works with the Council's communications team.
Tuesday 9 July
Tuesday and Wednesday were spent travelling around the catchment looking at monitoring sites, locations of interest, and discussing the geology, likely flow paths and site-specific issues at each location. We went started at the top of the catchment going up the Tākaka River past the Harwoods recorder site and then coming back along the eastern side of the valley, after stopping at Lindsays Bridge. We inspected the Spittals Spring site and noted a number of streams coming down from the eastern side of the valley. We crossed the Tākaka River and visited existing monitoring sites such as Sowman, Bennett, Jefferson, and Savage. We also visited some springs that emerge in the middle of farmland and walked upstream from Paines Ford to some springs that emerge about 600m upstream of Paines Ford bridge.
Wednesday 10 July
We continued travelling round the catchment focusing on the western and northern portions, including the Anatoki and the Motupipi rivers. In TWS area we visited the Main Springs monitoring site as well as the Fish Springs sites that are used by Council and Friends of Golden Bay (FOGB).
Thursday 11 July
Thursday and Friday were mainly focused on meeting people, but we also visited some areas in the lower catchment that had not been covered earlier.
Meeting with FOGB: I met with Gordon Mather and Andrew Yuill for an hour at the Council's Golden Bay office. We discussed their monitoring results and various issues, and I outlined the scope of my review.
Meeting with farmers: We met with a group of farmers who farm on the recharge area for the TWS at Cherrie Chubb’s place. Present were Cherrie and Robert Chubb, Tony Riley, Hamish Hill, Graham Ball, and David Scotland. Sally Ann Neal joined via Teams. The discussion lasted about 1.5 hours and raised some good issues such as management of sinkholes, variability of climate, knowledge gaps and the need to understand lag times for leaching from the valley floor. They also provided information about the prohibitive costs of drilling into the marble aquifer and discussed the radiometric surveys that they have asked Clint Rissmann to conduct to provide the spatially detailed information to assist with farm management.
Meeting with Freshwater and Land Advisory Group (FLAG) members: The FLAG group was a collaborative community group supported by TDC that reviewed freshwater management in the catchment between 2104 and 2019. I met with Greg Anderson and Mick Simmons (some additional FLAG members had been part of meetings earlier in the day). Some areas of discussion were sinkholes and possible springs and caves in the eastern side of the valley that may be suitable for sampling.
Friday 12 July
Meeting with Community Board: Present were Abby Langford (Chair), Grant Knowles (Deputy Chair), Henry Dixon, Cr Celia Butler, Cr Chris Hill, and Kim Drummond (TDC Group Manager Environmental Assurance). We discussed the scope and purpose of the review. They talked about interest from the public and their need to be kept informed.
Meeting with Ngati Tama: I met with Margie Little (Chair), Cr Chris Hill, Jenna Neame (General Manager) and Willow Milligan (recently completed a MSc on cultural monitoring for the TWS). They provided a history of their involvement with TWS and their management, including the preparation of the Mātauranga report and various commercialisation possibilities for TWS that had been proposed in the past.
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