Wai Spy River Monitoring
NIWA Wai Spy Project
New Zealanders want clear, swimmable freshwaters that are safe for recreational and cultural activities (e.g., waka ama, mahinga kai). However, two-thirds of New Zealand rivers contain pollution above acceptable levels and are often unsuitable for recreation and cultural uses.
Current advisory systems rely on historical grading or, at best, 1-7 day-old measurements at a few designated swimming sites so are inadequate in providing timely warnings of poor recreational water quality.
This project will develop ‘Wai-Spy’, a cost-effective, real-time warning system for recreational freshwater quality risks.
Wai-Spy will provide hourly estimates throughout the day of visual clarity and E.coli concentration – the two health-related variables that most strongly influence freshwater ‘swimmability’.
Wai-Spy will use simple camera systems as in-situ radiometers to monitor visual clarity and microbial quality at freshwater swimming sites before people enter rivers.
Successful delivery of ‘now-casts’ using Wai-Spy can potentially transform monitoring and management of freshwater swimming sites in New Zealand and internationally. Timely, accessible, location-specific warnings of swimming suitability and health risks will support safer and more rewarding freshwater recreation and cultural uses, and reduce the incidence of illnesses and associated health care costs currently arising from contact recreation when freshwater quality is poor.
Partnering with councils and iwi/communities will build local capacity to monitor water quality and ensure local relevance, assisting effective communication of real-time risks and guiding appropriate management responses (e.g., signage, closures/rāhui). In turn, this will inform higher-level freshwater decision-making via iwi and council environmental management plans, promoting kaitiakitanga and strengthening participation in freshwater co-management.
Wai-Spy will be locally calibrated and validated in partnership with citizen scientists, including iwi/hapū at selected swimming sites using smartphone cameras alongside cultural and community-based water monitoring methods.
Over the next few months the Paa Committee, in collaboration with NIWA and Ko Wai Au Trust, will be conducting water sampling at the Mangatoatoa Paa Wai Spy Case Study Site.
