Success story

Nitrate Hotspot Management in South Canterbury: Clandeboye and Seadown

Environment Canterbury has identified Clandeboye and Seadown as High Nitrogen Concentration Areas based on ongoing groundwater monitoring. The groups sought A2E support in understanding what caused these nitrate hotspots, and effective ways to manage nitrate, enhancing their capability to improve freshwater quality.

This is important information for these groups – it is necessary to inform their approach to managing the nutrient source – which will both identify next steps and the community response to elevated nitrate levels.

Through A2E’s, experts from Land and Water Science prepared two short presentations identifying:

• the local physiographic landscape settings,
• insights from the ground-truthing validation work undertaken,
• possible nutrient sources,
• the implications for water quality,
• and gap analysis of other potential implications.

A2E’s guidance meant that the groups have gained a better understanding of local physiographic landscape settings, like soil drainage characteristics, how soil responds to water (e.g., shrink-swell characteristics), and the chemical characteristics of aquifers. These elements determine the susceptibility of both areas to contaminant loss, especially nitrate leaching and attenuation. Where the groups have this information, they can have greater confidence in potential mitigation strategies to support the management of nitrate levels within each catchment group.