Skip to main content.

Limitations of the groundwater quality indicator

While the indicators for fresh water provide an overview of the quality and level of allocation in New Zealand, they do not provide a complete picture of the health of the freshwater resource. The indicators do not include other pollutants that can affect water quality, such as herbicide and pesticide residues, dissolved metals, pharmaceuticals and hydrocarbons.

In New Zealand, groundwater monitoring tends to focus on aquifers that are considered by water managers to be either an important source of supply or particularly vulnerable to pollution. Therefore, the results of monitoring surveys presented in this section should be considered to represent areas where contamination is likely, rather than representing the overall groundwater resource in New Zealand.

 

This information has come from the latest state of the environment report, Environment New Zealand 2007.

 

Return to the groundwater quality page.

Last updated: December 2007