West Coast Surface Water Quality

The West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) monitors surface water quality through its Surface Water Quality Monitoring Programme (SWQMP). This programme assesses surface water quality state and trends at selected sites where human impacts/pressures occur. 

Conclusions drawn from the SWQMP are covered in the latest 2008 WCRC Surface Water Quality State of the Environment report.

This report is intended to identify differences in water quality state, and changes in water quality over time around the region.

State of Surface Water Quality Due to the West Coast Region’s topography and climate water quality in	Trends Are things getting better or worse?
Contact Recreation: Risk to Bathers The Council monitors water quality annually at a range of popular water	Lake Brunner Water Quality How good is the water quality of Lake Brunner?
Download Report Download the full Surface Water Quality report here.

West Coast waterways are unique in that nearly all have a cool, extremely wet climate, and this climate type had the highest water quality out of a total of six climate types observed nationally.

Water clarity on the West Coast, with a mean of 2.8 m, was in the upper clarity range, and higher than most other regions in New Zealand.