River and stream water quality and ecology - Greater Wellington ...

River and stream water quality and ecology in the Wellington region: State and trends
4. Continue to address existing knowledge gaps around the effects of specific
activities on river and stream health in the Wellington region (eg, instream
works) and the sources of high nutrient or sediment inputs to some streams
using targeted, catchment-based monitoring and investigations.
5. Continue Greater Wellington’s existing soil conservation programmes to
reduce soil erosion across the region’s erosion-prone hill country.
6. Promote further riparian rehabilitation in small degraded or ‘at risk’ stream
catchments most likely to benefit from riparian revegetation and continue
with existing initiatives to remove physical barriers to native fish
migration.
7. Take into account the findings of this report in the review of Greater
Wellington’s existing regional plans, particularly the need to address:
Nutrient losses (both nitrogen and phosphorus) from intensive rural
land uses, such as dairying and horticulture;
Microbiological and nutrient contamination from municipal
wastewater discharges, stock access to streams and, in urban areas,
sewer/stormwater cross connections, leaks and overflows;
Land use practices and activities that contribute significant sediment
inputs to rivers and streams, particularly stock access to waterways
and riparian margins, forestry, and bulk earthworks associated with
urban and roading developments;
The effects of urban stormwater discharges on the region’s rivers and
streams; and
Activities in urban and rural areas that degrade instream habitat, such
as stream realignment, water abstraction and removal of riparian
vegetation.
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