Restoring Ngā Roto
Over the past 25 years, Waipā District Council (WDC) and partners have invested time, money and resources towards improving the current water quality at Ngā Roto. It is the consequence of processes in the wider 1846 hectare catchment over nearly 100 years of practice.
Council and partners have invested time, money and resources towards restoring the lake. To date we have:
- Fenced Ngā Roto lake reserve to exclude grazing
- Re-vegetated the margin to capture nutrients and sediment in run off
- Built treatment systems and undertaken management actions which seek to capture nutrients and sediments in farm drains, before they enter the lake
- The installation of a weir to maintain high lake levels, increasing the lake area from 74 ha in 1997 to 90 ha today
- Invested in weed and animal pest control, planting and education programs
- Diversion of the most significant inflow to prevent eutrophic water from an adjacent lake system (Ngā Rotoiti) entering Ngā Roto
- Purchase of land in the catchment with the aim of retiring this land from farming and planting native vegetation that can take up nutrients.
Further work is necessary to prevent the lake from deteriorating further. If algal blooms continue, wildlife and lake users will likely be affected in the warmer summer months. We understand the issues facing Ngā Roto are long-standing, intergenerational and complex, and therefore a whole catchment approach has been adopted that includes private landowners and partner agencies. In 2014, a catchment action plan for Lake Ngā Roto to improve water quality was developed by Landcare Trust, in conjunction with the farming community, local and regional government, tangata whenua, and lake users.
We know a collaborative approach is required to address factors outside the reserve boundary, and improving the water quality will take time. There is no instant or magic fix, but there are multiple plans and projects arising from multiple legislations currently in place to address water quality. A number of organisations report publicly on progress against these plans.
WDC also works collaboratively with partners in the Waipā Peat Lakes Accord including Ngāti Apakura, Fish & Game, Waikato Regional Council, Landcare Trust, and Department of Conservation to restore the condition of the lake. The Waikato River Authority has also supported work at the lake. Recently, Council invested in a Biodiversity Assessment and Restoration Plan. This document includes a summary of the restoration efforts of the past decades, and recommendations which will guide future restoration work at the lake.
The first management plan to improve water quality at Ngā Roto dates from 1977. The current planning framework is the Reserve Management Plan, drafted in 2009, and due to be reviewed in 2022-23. Specific actions and funding to improve the water quality are included in the WDC Long Term Plan (2021-2031), with details in the Ngā Roto Biodiversity Assessment and Restoration Plan (2021-2031).
The Reserve Management Plan (RMP) is anticipated to commence in 2024 which will determine future uses, restoration and development of the reserve. Council’s key partners and stakeholders will be involved in the formation of the RMP.
