Water quality Data

Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are affected by changes in the levels of nutrients, oxygen, and light. An overload of nutrients can be toxic or lead to algal blooms. These blooms can kill marine life by depleting oxygen levels. Suspended sediment can smother habitats or reduce light levels, affecting photosynthesis. We report on five measures of water quality: turbidity (murkiness), dissolved oxygen, and the dissolved nutrients nitrate- and nitrite-nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen, and total phosphorus.
This dataset relates to the "Coastal and estuarine water quality" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

This indicator measures the concentrations of four heavy metals (lead, copper, zinc and cadmium) against the Australian & New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) guideline values for toxic substances in estuarine sediment.

Heavy metals occur naturally in estuaries, but high concentrations suggest contamination from another source. The metals can be transported along waterways from urban environments (and, for cadmium, from farmland) and accumulate in estuarine and coastal sediments. Heavy metals are toxic although some such as copper and zinc are classed as micro-nutrients at very low concentrations. They accumulate in sediment, where they can be taken up by organisms, and are harmful to species and habitats. They also bio-accumulate (are found in higher concentrations in species further up the food chain).

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

Heavy metals occur naturally in estuaries, but high concentrations suggest contamination from another source. The metals can be transported along waterways from urban environments (and, for cadmium, from farmland) and accumulate in estuarine and coastal sediments. They are toxic and accumulate in fish and shellfish. We focus on four heavy metals: lead, copper, zinc, and cadmium.
This dataset relates to the "Heavy metal load in sediment" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

Data are 15 measures of coastal water quality at monitored sites in New Zealand. These 15 measures are dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature, visual clarity, turbidity, suspended solids, ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate-nitrite nitrogen, total nitrogen, dissolved reactive phosphorus, total phosphorus, faecal coliforms, enterococci, and chlorophyll-a.

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

Summary report available at www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporti....