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Before and After Integrated Catchment Management in a Headwater Catchment: Changes in Water Quality

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Abstract

Few studies have comprehensively measured the effect on water quality of catchment rehabilitation measures in comparison with baseline conditions. Here we have analyzed water clarity and nutrient concentrations and loads for a 13-year period in a headwater catchment within the western Waikato region, New Zealand. For the first 6 years, the entire catchment was used for hill-country cattle and sheep grazing. An integrated catchment management plan was implemented whereby cattle were excluded from riparian areas, the most degraded land was planted in Pinus radiata, channel banks were planted with poplar trees and the beef cattle enterprise was modified. The removal of cattle from riparian areas without additional riparian planting had a positive and rapid effect on stream water clarity. In contrast, the water clarity decreased in those sub-catchments where livestock was excluded but riparian areas were planted with trees and shrubs. We attribute the decrease in water clarity to a reduction in groundcover vegetation that armors stream banks against preparatory erosion processes. Increases in concentrations of forms of P and N were recorded. These increases were attributed to: (i) the reduction of instream nutrient uptake by macrophytes and periphyton due to increased riparian shading; (ii) uncontrolled growth of a nitrogen fixing weed (gorse) in some parts of the catchment, and (iii) the reduction in the nutrient attenuation capacity of seepage wetlands due to the decrease in their areal coverage in response to afforestation. Our findings highlight the complex nature of the water quality response to catchment rehabilitation measures.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Kerry Costley and Ralph Morse for site set-up, maintenance, and water sample collection, to Margaret Bellingham and Gareth Van Assema for providing hydrological data, and to staff of NIWA’s Hamilton chemistry laboratory for water quality analyses. AgResearch staff provided site access and cooperation throughout the study. This study was part of the Aquatic Rehabilitation Programme funded by the New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (Contract CO1X1002). The hydrometric stations at the Whatawhata Research Station were funded by the National Water Resources Programme (Contracts C01X0910 and C01X0303). Reviews by Sandy Elliott, Nicole Beck, and two anonymous reviewers improved the manuscript.

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  1. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited, P.O. Box 11 115, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Andrew O. Hughes & John M. Quinn

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  1. Andrew O. Hughes
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Correspondence to Andrew O. Hughes.

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Hughes, A.O., Quinn, J.M. Before and After Integrated Catchment Management in a Headwater Catchment: Changes in Water Quality. Environmental Management 54, 1288–1305 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0369-9

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