Jo McKenzie-McLean
A new project will look at E coli and the best way to manage it.
A collaborative project between DairyNZ, AgResearch and Manawatū’s Nguturoa Catchment Group will look at the best way to manage E coli in rural waterways.
Reducing bacterial levels is a challenge in many parts of New Zealand.
This multi-year project aims to understand how E coli gets into waterways and develop strategies to reduce losses from rural land to streams. It will also create a model to show how on-farm mitigations could reduce E coli losses.
The Nguturoa catchment runs from the ranges behind Linton to the Tokomaru River and down to the Manawatū River.
It comprises dairy, sheep and cattle farmers and lifestyle block owners.
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Horizons Regional Council is in charge of monitoring waterways in Manawatū and a new project will help develop strategies to deal with the bugs found in rivers (file photo).
Working closely with farmers, DairyNZ and AgResearch will undertake research and field work to better understand E coli pathways and processes in farming catchments.
DairyNZ general manager sustainable dairy Dr David Burger said this would mean better models could be created for developing and demonstrating options for farmers to reduce losses and help build regulatory understanding.
“This project is part of DairyNZ’s ongoing work to support farmers to reduce their environmental footprint while continuing to run successful farming businesses.
“New strategies to reduce losses could be adopted by dairy farmers across New Zealand in areas where E coli is an issue.”
Project lead and AgResearch science team leader Dr Richard Muirhead is one of New Zealand’s leading experts on E coli contamination.
He said a key issue helping farmers and regional councils manage the bug was understanding how multiple small sources of the contaminant from farms and other land uses combined to produce the concentrations measured at swimming sites downstream.
“The long-term focus of this project enables us to develop people and capabilities in catchment E coli modelling, to help address this gap.
“We’ll collect water and sediment samples in the Nguturoa catchment, with the purpose of developing the model to represent what is happening across New Zealand.
“The catchment-level focus is an exciting opportunity to integrate a lot of our existing farm-scale E coli knowledge into what happens at the catchment scale, which is where water quality impacts happen.”
The DairyNZ team working on this project includes Craig Depree, who has nearly 25 years’ experience as a water quality scientist, and Katrina Macintosh, whose international experience spanns water quality and environmental practice change on-farm.
Both recently published research on how good farming practices improved water quality in dairy-dominated catchments.
Many dairy farmers are restoring riparian margins and implementing practices that could significantly reduce contaminant losses to waterways.
