Fund helps support waterway volunteers
Christchurch City Council Newsline: 5th August 2025
New equipment is helping to support the Water Quality Volunteer Project with ongoing monitoring in Pūharakekenui/ Styx River.
A grant from Christchurch City Council’s Community Waterways Partnership Fund enabled the Styx Living Laboratory Trust to purchase the equipment, which is being used to monitor water quality.
“We’re concerned that increased development, particularly in the top of the catchment, is having negative effects on the health of the river, such as sediment smothering cobbles and gravel where invertebrates and fish live,” says Anita Spencer, Programme Manager of the Pūharakekenui/ Styx Freshwater Improvement Fund Project.
“We are using the equipment to target problem areas, particularly after rain events, and if we identify pollution, we can log it with Environment Canterbury’s Pollution Hotline."
Ms Spencer says on the surface, waterways often look healthy, but being able to measure the less visible elements such as e.coli levels, turbidity and temperature with scientifically robust equipment helps with providing more information on water quality characteristics.
“The funding from the Council’s Waterways Partnership Fund has meant we can purchase good quality equipment that will allow us to accurately monitor water health for years to come.
"It lets us determine trends over time, and see if any of the steps we are taking to protect it are working yet. We can’t take action if we don’t understand the problem.”
Learn more about the work of the Styx Living Laboratory Trust.
The Council’s Community Waterways Partnership Fund encourages collaborative/community-scale initiatives that help to improve and protect our urban waterways. It helps groups enable community implementation of positive stormwater, habitat and water conservation actions and solutions.
Previously the fund has supported initiatives to reduce litter and clean Christchurch’s waterways, monitor marine invertebrates and provide waterways education.
Find out more about the Community Waterways Partnership Fund, including how to apply.
The $60,000 funding pool is open from Friday 1st August to Friday 29th August 2025.