Real Time Water Quality Monitoring

Our Land and Water Facebook Post: Real-time water quality monitoring is a new technology with few resources to support farmer usage. This project has been testing how it can be applied in practice, by establishing three shallow groundwater nitrate monitoring sites on Wainono Farm, a dairy farm, one self-funded by the farmer. The range in nitrate recordings is not large, but the dynamic nature of the nitrate concentrations is clear.

The project has determined the direction of groundwater flow, placed sensors, and installed a weather station next to a bore. These will all will provide information to help analyse the nitrate readings being recorded. Host farmer John Wright is also collecting samples from creeks monthly and during rain events.

Interim results so far? The season has been very wet. The range in nitrate recordings is not large, but the dynamic nature of the nitrate concentrations is clear. The team has only made a cursory analysis to relate the patterns to position in the landscape and irrigation/climate. It has been indicated that there is a relationship with a site at the top of the farm and another site further down the farm. An approximate 2-day lag was detected between the sites.

The middle site in another paddock appears to be following a secondary pattern. The reason for this has not yet been identified and may relate to a being on a slightly different flow path, or the balance from direct soil zone recharge and through flow may differ at this site.

The research team held an introductory on-farm field day in November, and they are finding that farmers are increasingly interested in monitoring the health of their waterways, and are frustrated with the lack of local, attainable data in their catchment. This has led to good engagement with the project.

The research continues and we look forward to bringing you further updates. - Our Land and Water Facebook Update 31 July 2022