Future

The Regional Council will continue to monitor water quality in our harbours to assess the health of these systems and to identify environmental issues. Where environmental issues are identified the Regional Council will undertake further investigations to determine the sources of contamination.

For example, the Council has begun using more sophisticated methods to track faecal contamination to determine whether the source is from wildfowl, herbivore, human or other warm blooded animals. This information will assist the Council to identify processes and pathways of contaminants entering our coastal waters and direct management initiatives to mitigate these sources and improve water quality.