Research Findings Brief: Current state of water contaminants compared to bottom lines

This short, plain-language Research Findings Brief is for regional council planners and central government policy analysts.

The briefing document summarises research that evaluated the current state of four contaminants (nitrogen, phosphorus, Escherichia coli, and sediment) in rivers, lakes, and estuaries across Aotearoa New Zealand. This was the first assessment of the current state compared to ‘bottom lines’ for all four contaminants across the whole country.

This brief summary shares maps depicting the national-scale load reductions required, and explains how the research can be used, what was done, why the assessment may be different from regional council maps or contaminant reduction estimates, and outlines the key assumptions and uncertainties