Groundwater: monitoring and reporting

Generally our region's groundwater quality is satisfactory, but in some areas it is contaminated with nitrates, pesticides, micro-organisms (bacteria) and seawater. There are also places in the region where the amount of water available for people to use is also under pressure.

Waikato Regional Council regularly monitors and reports on the quality and availability of our region's groundwater. We also get groundwater information from community groundwater supplies, investigations (chemical and microbial) and data provided through resource consent applications and compliance monitoring.

We have found that the most common chemical contaminants found in community water supplies with near or above the maximum acceptable values for drinking water are nitrate, arsenic, boron and metals produced from corroding pipes (for example, zinc and copper).

It’s natural to find high levels of arsenic and boron in geothermal areas (mainly Taupō), but nitrate contamination is the result of the way we use the land.

A table of our contaminant measures is at the bottom of this page. You can alos check out the national drinking water standards on the Te Whatu Ora website (online publications).