Understanding Auckland's freshwater

​Monitoring and reporting

We are undertaking environmental monitoring at approximately:

• 100 rivers
• 29 lakes
• 80 rainfall catchments
• 79 groundwater sites.

This will help us determine the baseline state of Auckland’s freshwater bodies. It will also help us find a starting point for future improvements.

Modelling

It is not possible to monitor all freshwater bodies in Auckland.

We will also use modelling to understand freshwater systems and management outcomes.

Our Freshwater Management Tool (FWMT) is a water quality and hydrology modelling tool developed to represent some aspects of baseline state for rivers and streams.

What we will do

We will use environmental monitoring data and modelling to:

• develop baseline state reports that identify the current health of Auckland's freshwater against the attributes outlined in the NPSFM
• better understand the effects of current and potential future activities on our freshwater systems
• inform freshwater policy decision making
• measure how effective the changes that we are making are in achieving agreed target states and freshwater outcomes.

Useful links

Visit our Environmental Data Portal to find out more about our freshwater monitoring sites across the region.

See State of the Environment Reports (SOEs) for supporting information from 1999 to 2020.

See River water quality National Policy Statement Freshwater Management current state report and Freshwater Management Tool reports to read about the state of Auckland’s freshwater environment.

More information

See Freshwater stock exclusion regulations for the latest information on how monitoring can affect your stock farming practices.