Horizons Regional Council has released its 2019 State of Environment (SOE) report which provides a snapshot of the state and trends of our region’s natural resources. Download the report (22MB PDF) from Horizons or from our site: 2019-State-of-the-Environment.pdf.
I haven’t had time yet to read it, but a quick search of the PDF brought up the following items about Waikawa Beach:
The regional boundary includes 3,100km2 or
310,000 hectares of coastal area, which equates to approximately 14 per cent of the regional area. There are 40 estuaries in the region – 25 on the west coast and 15 on the east coast. Of these, five estuaries (12.5 per cent) have been identified as moderate to high vulnerability to eutrophication (nutrient and sediment). These are the east coast estuaries Wainui and Tuatane and the west coast estuaries Kai Iwi, Hōkio and Waikawa. (Pages 11 and 107)
Completed hydrogeological studies throughout the region, including Whanganui, Turakina- Rangitīkei, Manawatū (Tararua and Whakarongo) and Horowhenua (Lake Horowhenua and Ōhau- Waikawa) (Page 75)
The Ōhau and Waikawa Estuaries fail to meet One Plan targets for dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a. (Page 109)
In the Horizons Region, trophic scores have now been calculated for the Ōhau and Waikawa estuaries. Ōhau Estuary has a score of 0.68 and is classed as Band C (moderate), while Waikawa Estuary has a trophic score of 0.85, placing it in the Band D (high) category. (Page 112)
Plus 2 reference sources on Page 128.
Note our poor scores on some measures.