Council to celebrate World Rivers Day (+video)

World Rivers Day gives a chance to celebrate the regions eight major rivers including the Rangitaiki River. Photo/File

This Sunday is World Rivers Day giving the Bay of Plenty Regional Council a chance to celebrate the regions eight major rivers.

In a statement the council said the day gave a chance to promote and encourage people to visit and value the waterways for their unique characteristics and attractions.

To also mark World Rivers Day, the Land, Air, Water, Aotearoa (LAWA) website has produced a summary of its River of the Month video series which highlights councils' and communities' work to protect and enhance waterways throughout the country.

The summary pays tribute to rivers in all regions including the Bay of Plenty; the Nukuhou River featured in 2015 after the Morgan Foundation named it the Bay of Plenty's most-improved river.

LAWA's World Rivers Day celebrations coincide with a refresh of its freshwater and coastal monitoring information, which allows people to access information on water quality at the various waterways in the Bay of Plenty.

While this data has previously been available, the refresh means LAWA now features the latest freshwater and coastal information, as well as extended descriptions of the area surrounding each of the council's monitoring sites.

The regional council manages the Bay of Plenty's rivers and its outcomes include water quality and quantity and environmental protection. To help meet these outcomes the council uses data gathered from the aforementioned sites to monitor water quality.

"We hope publishing this monitoring data on LAWA will help grow awareness and understanding of water quality issues and the work we do to keep our waterways clean, free of pests, and suitable for swimming," said council environmental scientist Paul Scholes.

The 155km Rangitaiki River, for example, is the region's longest and has been traditionally viewed by iwi as an eel fishery and important restoration issue. The Kaituna River is popular with white water rafters and features the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall (the 7m Tutea Falls) and the Motu River is of huge cultural and historical significance and features old tunnels built in consideration of a hydro-electric scheme on the river.