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Map showing streams.

The Strathnaver streams

An interesting thing about the Electra Outages site is their map of Waikawa Beach, which shows us the streams and drainage ditches in the area. There’s a stream that emerges from Lake Hurutini (bottom right corner of the map). It flows into the Strathnaver area, and then branches to go across Strathnaver Drive (by number 123) and into the Miratana…

Swell Warnings explained!

Wellington Region Emergency Management Office says: Swell Warnings explained! 🌊 For those of you who have seen the swell warnings come out and are wanted to know a bit more about how these work - take a look at this great explainer video put together by @MetService. Essentially: waves come in all different heights. To get “significant swell height” they…

Waikawa river mouth, as seen by drone.

Waikawa Estuary photos April 2022

Twitter user SirWB recently posted several drone photos of the Waikawa Estuary and river mouth. It’s very interesting to see the area from above — it’s changed so much in the last few months.

Red dot on a map shows Waikawa River at the footbridge has a very poor longterm score for human health.

What future for Waikawa River water quality?

Horizons Regional Council wants to hear from you about freshwater quality before 5pm Tuesday 24 May 2022. Have your say: Long-term visions for freshwater | Oranga Wai. (See below.) Waikawa River has some pretty poor scores on various water quality and health measures, so we really need Horizons to put in the work to improve them. Visit Waiopehu Freshwater Management…

Float with advanced optical sensor.

River nutrient study

Back in December 2021 sharp-eyed folks crossing the footbridge would have noticed this mystery device. It appeared to be monitoring river flow. It wasn’t though. Instead it’s been continuously monitoring the height of the river and sending the data back to Horizons Regional Council as part of a project. On Thursday 31 March 2022 a small team from Horizons Regional…