More than 136km of Bay of Plenty waterway margins have been protected from stock access in the past year, according to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
The council's Integrated Catchments Manager Chris Ingle said this had been done through riparian management partnerships between private landowners and the council.
"Riparian management programmes are just one of many tools we're using to protect and improve local water quality and river health. We had an annual target of 101km of waterway margin protection for the 2017/18 year and it's great to have exceeded that.
"The extra gains have mainly been in the Rangitāiki, Eastern Bay of Plenty, and Kaituna catchments where they were needed most," he said.
The council has also set new targets for improving swimmability in some of the region's most popular, but troubled, swimming spots, including Kaiate Falls and Ngongotahā Stream
"All the best practice methods for reducing E.coli bacteria levels in those places have already been tried so we're bringing in specialist expertise and exploring innovative new solutions to bring those locations up to swimmable standards."
