Kaipatiki Creek - Water Quality
During visits in 2018 and 2019 we have not yet observed fish or invertebrates in or over the stream, except occasional Vespula wasps. Wherever the stream is visible to us we have a quick look around for signs of the kokopu, eels, damselflies and other freshwater fauna that were seen from time to time during the restoration in 1997-99.
In 2018 we noticed contractors checking water quality monitoring equipment abovet the weir at the low point in the road just upstream of the Stanley Rd/Kaipatiki Rd intersection. We learned water level and temperature are monitored monthly, and general water quality annually. We do not know what that monitoring has found in recent years, but after rain we can see in the stream the familiar colour-change to the semi-opaque grey we have been told is due to pollutants from road surface run off, paintbrush-washing, vehicle washing, waterblasting of driveways, and sediment from unvegetated banks further upstream in housing and commercial areas.
There is now a full set of steps at the weir, from the road down to the streambank at the weir, preventing the erosion that used to occur along the stream wherever people had to scramble up and down the banks to access the stream at that point. These steps are still usable by the public with care, but the wooden risers now extend an inch or so above the clay/mulch "treads".
After a recent moderately heavy rain, a waterfall of stormwater and raw sewage was observed entering the stream near the footbridge at the entry to the Native Plant Trail:
Comentarios
Añade un comentario