River Lake has been assisting Bay of Plenty Regional Council with monitoring of Maketū Estuary. It has been six years since the Kaituna River was re-diverted back into the Maketū Estuary as part of the Kaituna River Re-diversion and Maketū Estuary Enhancement Project. This proejct returned at least 20% of the Kaituna River’s flow back to the estuary and restored salt marsh and wetland habitats.

Intensive monitoring has been undertaken for algae cover, sediment accumulation, sediment quality, banthic macrofauna communities, water quality, shellfish abundance and size, pipi surveys, and microbial water quality of shellfish.

Recent reporting has confirmed that the rediversion has dramatically reduced the cover of macroalgae, leading to improving macrofauna diversity and more abundance of shellfish thoughout much of the estuary. The increased flow from the Kaituna River has reduced salinity in the estuary and resulted in higher concentrations of nitrogen and microbial bacteria in the water. While the rediversion has been very succesful, continued efforts are still required to improve water quality across the catchment.

The report prepared for BOPRC can be found here: