Love to help improve our waterways?

Photo / Supplied

Planting trees, restoring wetlands, cleaning up beaches: thousands of Kiwis are working hard to clean up our waterways. See what's happening in your area, get involved at an event near you, or find out more about what you can do at home to improve water quality by clicking on the links below.

We'll be updating this website regularly with new initiatives, events, and helpful info, so watch this space!

Department of Conservation (DOC)
DOC works with hundreds of community conservation groups all around New Zealand – from restoring forests, coasts and wildlife to managing huts, tracks and historic places. They have a comprehensive list of projects and volunteer groups around the country so why not jump in and get involved?

LAWA
LAWA stands for Land, Air, Water Aotearoa and, as its name suggests, it's where you can find info on our natural resources - including data on water quality and updates on which waterways are suitable for swimming. They also hold and support regular events, so check them out.

Ministry for the Environment
Want to know what you can do on a daily basis to help clean up our waterways? Check out these helpful tips compiled by the Ministry for the Environment to help reduce your water footprint at home and lessen the pollution going into our rivers, lakes, beaches and streams.

Become a citizen scientist with NIWA
NIWA is currently undertaking a nationwide study to provide better guidance to groups undertaking stream restoration. Once that's done, they'll be looking for 'citizen scientists' to improve our environment by tracking changes in water and habitat quality. If that sounds like something you'd like to be involved in.

Wai Care? Why not?
Do you live in the Auckland region? Is there a stream you love or are concerned about? Then join Wai Care! Wai Care provides volunteer groups with resources such as water quality monitoring kits and access to a Wai Care co-ordinator – and uses the data to monitor any issues, changes or problems.

Living in the Waikato? Check this out.
The Hamilton City Council has created a handy household guide to improving and managing water use. It includes information about the water quality of the Waikato River and helpful tips for using less water at home and keeping stormwater drains clear of pollutants.

Waitaha Wai: Waterways of Christchurch
Waitaha Wai: Waterways of Christchurch is a water education programme developed by Environment Canterbury and the Christchurch City Council. They've designed a helpful pdf designed to educate young people and communities about the importance of our waterways and how to maintain them for future generations.

Save the drain for rain
Anything that goes into stormwater drains goes into our creeks, rivers, lakes and oceans. So the Greater Wellington Regional Council has come up with a set of helpful guidelines on what you can and can't put down the drains and how it affects our streams, oceans and aquatic life. This applies everywhere – not just Wellington.