Sustainable Land and Water Use

Several major groundwater research programmes are aimed at providing knowledge and decision support tools for resource users and managers.  They are funded predominantly by The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST).


Our research teams are located at Hamilton, in the North Island, and Lincoln, in the South Island of New Zealand.  The respective locations influence the emphasis given to aspects of the programme. 


The Hamilton team operates field-based research on vadose zone water dynamics, and nitrate transport and transformation in hill country and lowland catchments.


The Lincoln team is focussed on groundwater dynamics and nitrate transport in the aquifers of the large alluvial plains that are the source of irrigation water as New Zealand’s major consumptive water use.  Experimental work is based on a large artificial aquifer and extensive use of mathematical modelling supported by environmental data. 


Research into groundwater allocation builds on recently developed groundwater management tools that quantify the relationship between pumped abstractions from groundwater and the depletion of aquifer-supplied streamflows. Current research addresses the relationships between streamflow regime and ecological values, as well as methodology for public decision making about these values.  Complementary research is aimed at reducing the demand for irrigation abstraction from groundwater by incorporating short-term rainfall forecasts into operational decision-making.


Several of these projects form part of the IRAP (Integrated Research for Aquifer Protection) inter-agency collaborative programme.


Finally, our biosensor developments are offering new analytical possibilities for the routine testing of imports to and discharges from waste water treatment plants.

 

Research Subjects:

 

Land Based Wastewater Treatment

Measurement and Instrumentation

Spatial Variation of N Parameters in Agricultural Soil

Water Resource Management

Groundwater Quality

Stakeholder Collaboration Processes

Regional Scale System Modelling

Hydraulic Network Analysis and Design

Contaminant Transport and Transformations in the subsurface