Awatapu Lagoon is a 12.9 ha oxbow lake created when the Ōhinemataroa / Whakatāne River was straightened in 1970. The lagoon has poor water quality but provides good ecological values for birds and has high potential for restoration.
River Lake has undertook monitoring and a series of investigations to characterise the water quality of Awatapu Lagoon and identify practical options for improvement.
Improvement of water quality in Awatapu Lagoon over the long term will require multiple actions over a sustained period to reduce nutrient loads (internal and external) and enhance natural processes that attenuate nutrients. Reducing the biomass of hornwort is a high priority that would provide multiple benefits. However, maintaining some aquatic plants is also important for maintaining reasonable water quality in small natural lakes.
The report for Whakatāne District Council can be found here:
Te Awa o te Atua /Matatā lagoon is an outstanding example of a complex dune land-wetland-open-water system on a freshwater-saltwater interface. It has high botanical values and provides high value breeding and feeding habitat for a large number of water birds.
The western lagoon was remediated in about 2010, however the width of aquatic emergent wetland vegetation on the margin of the western lagoon remains considerably less than what was intended to regenerate into shallow wetland habitat following the post-flood remediation.
River Lake Ltd and Place Group undertook water quality, fish and vegetation surveys to assess the ecological health of Te Awa O Te Atua / Matatā Lagoon and identify ways to improve its values.
The report for Whakatane District Council can be found here:
Sullivan Lake is a small (2.7ha), shallow, urban lake located in Whakatāne which has had persistently poor water quality. River Lake has undertook monitoring and a series of investigations to characterise the water quality of Sullivan Lake and identify practical options for improvement.
The report for Whakatāne District Council can be found here:
Glenn Young sampling from southern Awatapu Lagoon as part of his time with River Lake and the Science Teacher Leadership Programme 2021.
Glenn Young worked with River Lake as part of the Science Teacher Leadership Programme run by Royal Society Te Apārangi. During his time with River Lake, Glenn assisted with fish surveys, river sampling and lake sampling.
Glenn has now returned to Apanui School where he is enthusing our tamariki in learning science.
River Lake studied the mixing of diagonal drain pump station with the lower Kaituna River. We used Rhotomine dye WT to understand how well the pump station discharge mixed across the Kaituna River before the intake for the new diversion to Maketū Estuary.
The work was done for Bay of Plenty Regional Council rivers and drainage team.
Rhodamine WT dye entering the Kaituna River from the Diagonal Drain pump station, 2.3 km upstream from the river mouth (9 Nov 2017). Photo by Andy Belcher.Lower Kaituna River facing towards Maketū Estuary. The borrow pits are visible on the true right of the river. At this location discharges from Diagonal Drain had mixed across 50% to 70% of the river, depending on the tide (9 November 2017). Photo by Andy Belcher.
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Keith at River Lake coordinated an expert panel to develop possible attributes and thresholds relevant to the ecosystem health of Intermittently Closed and Open Lakes and Lagoons (ICOLLs) and brackish lakes.
The work was undertaken for Ministry for the Environment to support the National Objectives Framework (NOF) in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM).
Read the report here.
Ecosystem Health Attributes for Brackish Lakes 2014.
