scholarly journals Global Market Effects on Biodiversity and Water Quality in New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. p11
Author(s):  
Ben Tyson ◽  
Nick Edgar
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Market Effects ◽  
Market Pressures

This paper discusses how global market pressures have negatively affected biodiversity and water quality in New Zealand, the broad impacts of this, and what the country is doing to address these issues. A version of this paper was presented at the Twelfth Global Studies Conference, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. June 27-28, 2019.

Enterococci in the New Zealand environment: implications for water quality monitoring

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 325-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Anderson ◽  
S. J. Turner ◽  
G. D. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Water Quality Monitoring ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
High Ratio ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Water Quality Data ◽  
Bathing Water Quality

Faecal enterococci ecology outside the host is of great relevance when using these organisms as indicators of water quality. As a complement to New Zealand epidemiological studies of bathing water quality and health risk, a study of the environmental occurrence of these organisms has been undertaken. Specific concerns over the use of enterococci derive from the unique situation in New Zealand which has few chlorinated sewage effluents, a high ratio of grazing animals to humans, and significant inputs of animal processing effluents into the environment. Human and animal faecal wastes are the main sources, with 106–107cfu/100ml found in human sewage. Analysis of domestic and feral animal faeces found enterococci in the range of 101–106cfu/g with considerable variation between species. The latter observations support the notion that a considerable proportion of the load in urban/rural catchments and waterways (typically 102–103 enterococci cfu/100ml) is derived from non-human sources. Previous studies of enterococci quiescence in marine/fresh waters indicate that they enter a non-growth phase, exposure to sunlight markedly reducing culturability on selective and non-selective media. Enterococci were also found to survive/multiply within specific non-faecal environments. Enterococci on degrading drift seaweed at recreational beaches exceeded seawater levels by 2–4 orders of magnitude, suggesting that expansion had occurred in this permissive environment with resultant potential to contaminate adjacent sand and water. These studies suggest that multiple sources, environmental persistence, and environmental expansion of enterococci within selected niches add considerable complexity to the interpretation of water quality data.

scholarly journals Improving and parameterising nitrogen and phosphorus modelling for application of LUCI in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Martha Trodahl
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Stream Water ◽  
Nutrient Loss ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Quality Models ◽  
Export Coefficient ◽  
Water Quality Models

<p>Over the last 50 years freshwater and marine environments have become severely impaired due to contamination from pathogens, heavy metals, sediment, industrial chemicals and nutrients (MEA 2005b). In many countries, including New Zealand, increased nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loading to terrestrial and freshwater environments from diffuse nutrient sources are of particular concern (MEA 2005a; PCE 2015b; Steffen et al. 2015) and many governments now mandate control of diffuse nutrient loss to water. Water quality models are invaluable tools that can assist with decision making around this widespread issue through exploration of the current situation and future scenarios.  Many water quality models exist, functioning at a variety of temporal and spatial scales and varying in detail and complexity. However, few, if any, simultaneously represent sub-field to catchment scale processes and outcomes, both of which are required to fully address water quality issues associated with diffuse nutrient sources. Those that do, likely require extensive time and expertise to operate. Water quality models embedded in the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI), an ecosystem service decision support framework, offer the opportunity to overcome these limitations. Being highly spatially explicit, yet straightforward to use, they can inform and assist individual land owners, catchment managers and other stakeholders with planning, decision making and management of water quality at sub-field to landscape scale.  To model diffuse nutrient losses LUCI, like many catchment scale water quality models, requires some form of estimated nutrient loss, or export coefficient, from land units within the catchment of interest. To be representative export coefficients must consider climate, soil, topography, and land cover and management variables. A number of methods of export coefficient derivation exist, although generally they consider only very limited geo-climatic, land cover and land management variables.  The principal aim of this study is development of algorithms capable of calculating New Zealand site specific N and P export coefficients from detailed geo-climatic, land cover and land management variables, for application in LUCI water quality models. Algorithms for pastoral land cover are developed from a large dataset comprising real pastoral farm input and output data from nutrient budgeting model OVERSEER. Algorithms are extended to land covers other than pasture, albeit in a limited manner. This is achieved through rescaling of the pastoral algorithms to account for relative differences in literature reported N and P losses from pasture and a variety of other New Zealand land covers. Application of the developed algorithms in LUCI water quality models results in positioning of export coefficients at the DEM grid square scale (≤ 15 m x 15 m for New Zealand). In addition, intra-basin configuration is considered in LUCI, at the same grid square scale, as water and nutrient flows are cascaded through the catchment. Application of the export coefficient calculating algorithms are applied to two contrasting New Zealand catchments. Tuapaka catchment, an 85ha agricultural foothill catchment in Manawatu, North Island, and Lake Rotorua catchment, a 502 km2 volcanic, mixed land cover catchment in Bay of Plenty, North Island.  This research is supported by Ravensdown, a farmer owned co-operative, which plans to use LUCI extensively to advise and assist farmers with water quality issues. The ability to model mitigation strategies in LUCI is an important capability. Therefore, this research also includes a review of five particularly important on-farm mitigation strategies, which will later be used by the wider LUCI development team to assist with better parameterisation and improved performance of mitigation options in LUCI.  Application of the developed algorithms at farm to catchment scale in LUCI results in considerably more nuanced, detailed maps and data showing N and P sources and pathways, compared to LUCI’s previously used ‘one export coefficient per land cover’ approach. Although results indicate absolute nutrient loss values are not always ‘correct’ compared to either OVERSEER predictions or in-stream water quality measurements, these differences appear comparable to those seen with similar water quality models. In addition, the issue of representativeness of OVERSEER predictions and in-stream water quality measurements exists.  Nevertheless improvement to absolute predictions is always an aim. This research indicates further improvements to LUCI water quality predictions could result from refinement of both pastoral and other land cover algorithms, and from improved representation of attenuation processes in LUCI, including groundwater representation. However, lack of measured on-land and in-stream N and P loss data is a major challenge to both algorithm refinement and to evaluation of results. In addition, more detailed spatial data would provide more nuanced results from algorithm application.  Although the algorithm application context in this research is LUCI water quality models applied in New Zealand, this does not preclude application of the developed algorithms in other export coefficient based, catchment scale water quality models. Using spatial data pertaining to climate, soil, topographic and land management variables, land units of combined variables can be identified and the algorithms applied, resulting in explicitly positioned export coefficients that can be fed into the catchment scale water quality model of interest. Therefore, developments made here potentially represent a wider contribution to catchment scale modelling using export coefficients.</p>

scholarly journals Producing to market specifications - the challenge for the future

1999 ◽  
pp. 91-93
Author(s):  
Jon Manhire
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Stock Management ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
Quality Of Products

High-value consumer markets are demanding a continuously higher quality of products and enhanced food safety. In association with this, the increasingly competitive global market place and developments in information technology have catalysed the establishment of closer relationships and co-operation between participants in high-value supply chains. These closer relationships enhance the flow of information between participants and their ability to introduce strategies to improve efficiencies in supply as well as to decrease risks to consumers and others in the supply chain. These trends have significant implications to New Zealand farmers who will need to adopt systems to more effectively monitor and record their use of inputs and subsequent farm and stock management and make this information available to those further down the value chain. An inability to respond to these trends may result in farmers as well as processors, limited to servicing only relatively lower value markets. Keywords: agricultural sector, information technology, New Zealand, supply chain integration, supply chain management

scholarly journals Water quality in low‐elevation streams and rivers of New Zealand: Recent state and trends in contrasting land‐cover classes

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott T. Larned ◽  
Mike R. Scarsbrook ◽  
Ton H. Snelder ◽  
Ned J. Norton ◽  
Barry J. F. Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Streams And Rivers

Water-quality issues facing dairy farming: potential natural and built attenuation of nitrate losses in sensitive agricultural catchments

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Ranvir Singh ◽  
David J. Horne
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Dairy Farming ◽  
Critical Flow ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Agricultural Catchments ◽  
Nitrate Losses ◽  
Modelling Analysis ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Flow Pathways

Context Dairy farming will be increasingly scrutinised for its environmental impacts, in particular for its impacts on freshwater quality in New Zealand and elsewhere. Management and mitigation of high nitrate losses is one of the greatest water-quality challenges facing dairy farming in New Zealand and other countries. Management of critical flow pathways and nitrate-attenuation capacity could offer potential solutions to this problem and help maintain dairy-farming productivity, while reducing its water-quality impacts. Aims The present paper reviewed the key water-quality issues faced by dairy farming and assessed potential of emerging edge-of-paddock technologies, and catchment-scale nutrient-attenuation practices, to reduce nitrate losses from dairy farming to receiving water bodies. Methods We developed a conceptual catchment-scale modelling analysis assessing potential natural and built attenuation of nitrate losses from dairy farming in the Tararua and Rangitikei catchments (located in the lower part of the North Island, New Zealand). Key results This exploratory analysis suggests that a reduction of greater than 25% in the river nitrate loads from dairy-farming areas could potentially be achieved by spatially aligning dairy land with areas of high subsurface nitrate-attenuation capacity, and by managing critical flow pathways using innovative edge-of-field technologies such as controlled drainage, drainage-water harvesting for supplemental irrigation, woodchip bioreactors, and constructed wetlands in the study catchments. Conclusions The research findings highlighted the potential to better understand, map and effectively utilise existing natural and new built-in nitrate-attenuation capacity to significantly reduce water-quality impacts from dairy farming across environmentally sensitive agricultural catchments. This knowledge and tools could help farmers close the gap between what can be achieved with current, in-field mitigation practises and the nitrogen-loss allocation imposed by regulatory authorities. Implications However, the research findings presented here are based on a coarse-scale, conceptual modelling analysis, and therefore further research is recommended to develop tools and practices to better understand, map and effectively utilise existing natural and new built-in nitrogen attenuation capacity at farm-scale to achieve productive and environmentally friendly pastoral dairy farming across agricultural landscapes.

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