BOPRC celebrating World Rivers Day

Bay of Plenty Regional Council is celebrating World Rivers Day which is taking place tomorrow.

The day gives the council a chance to promote the Bay of Plenty's eight major rivers and encourage people to visit and value them for their unique characteristics and attractions.


Aerial view of the Rangitaiki River. File Photo.

The 155km Rangitaiki River, for example, is the region's longest and has been traditionally viewed by iwi as an eel fishery and important restoration issue.

The Kaituna River is popular with white water rafters and features the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall (the seven metre Tutea Falls) and the Motu River is of huge cultural and historical significance, featuring old tunnels built in consideration of a hydro-electric scheme on the river.

The Land, Air, Water, Aotearoa (LAWA) website has also produced a summary of its River of the Month video series, which highlights council and community work to protect and enhance waterways throughout the country.

The summary pays tribute to rivers in all regions including the Bay of Plenty. The Nukuhou River featured in 2015 after the Morgan Foundation named it the Bay of Plenty's most-improved river.

LAWA's World Rivers Day celebrations coincide with a refresh of its freshwater and coastal monitoring information, which allows people to access information on water quality at the various waterways in the Bay of Plenty. LAWA now features the latest freshwater and coastal information, as well as extended descriptions of the area surrounding each of the council's monitoring sites.

The regional council manages the Bay of Plenty's rivers, including water quality, quantity and environmental protection. To help meet these outcomes the council uses data gathered from the aforementioned sites to monitor water quality.

'We hope publishing this monitoring data on LAWA will help grow awareness and understanding of water quality issues and the work we do to keep our waterways clean, free of pests and suitable for swimming,” says council environmental scientist Paul Scholes.

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