At our recent AGM Trustee Brett Painter, who is Project Leader for this Canterbury Water Management Strategy Project, gave a short talk on the work to date on Targeted Stream Augmentation in the Selwyn-Waihora catchment. The report of the initial trials at Boggy Creek is now available and can be found on the ECan website.

As part of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy, ECan have been investigating ways to implement water management in the Selwyn-Waihora area. One of the options is the use of groundwater from deeper artesian bores to augment flows in the lowland streams that flow into Te Waihora.

During the winter, flows in the lowland streams are high, but in the summer flows reduce significantly and streams may dry up in sections. The reduced flows mean less dilution of any contaminants and the dry reaches reduce the available habitat for fish and invertebrates.

By supplementing the flows in summer both the flows and the quality of the streams will be enhanced.