How healthy is that stream? We have monitoring kits available to help you find out how healthy the streams are in your area.
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Collecting and sharing data, information and advice
Last updated: 17 November 2025
Reporting frequency: Quarterly
Core service: Environmental Regulation and Protection
To support making decisions about how we manage and use resources, we need to understand the state of the environment, to measure changes to the environment over time, and to make our data and information accessible.
This will inform good decision-making, from elected members deciding on plan rules, to families deciding where to swim.
We have long-term land, water and air monitoring networks that monitor our environment. We supplement our long-term network with historic data, and data from short-term monitoring programmes and research projects carried out by ourselves and partners.
All our state of the environment data is quality assured and we make the data and information available in different ways, including via our website, Canterbury Maps and the Land, Air, Water Aotearoa website (LAWA).
We have a staff of highly trained scientists who interpret data from our networks and other sources to provide science-based information and advice to policy decision-makers and the general public. We value mātauranga Māori and work in partnership with ngā Papatipu Rūnanga to use this knowledge as appropriate, to help us make better decisions.
How are we tracking on our service measures?
Service measure 16: Percentage of Environment Canterbury State of the Environment monitoring programmes from which data are updated and published throughout the year
Target: 100%
How we are doing: 72% (8 of 11) monitoring programmes published data in quarter one. The remainder will publish data in later quarters. See below for a list of the programmes
On track
Service measure 17: Percentage of State of the Environment monitoring data that meet technical standards and are quality assured
Target: 100%
How we are doing: Assessments ongoing
On track
More information
Our State of the Environment monitoring data and information on water, land, air and coastal environment is made publicly available.
Our monitoring work is grouped into 11 programmes. These are:
- river flow and level
- rainfall
- groundwater levels
- surface and groundwater quality
- surface water ecology
- coastal water quality and ecology
- recreational water quality
- land and soil
- wetlands
- indigenous biodiversity
- air quality.
We make the data and information available in different ways, including via our website (for example, our technical reports and resources page), Canterbury Maps, Water Quality Limits in Canterbury, and the Land, Air, Water Aotearoa website (LAWA). LAWA is our main way to report on State of the Environment data.
Setting targets and measuring progress towards outcomes was included for the first time in the Te Mahere Pae Tawhiti | Long-Term Plan 2024-34. The results for individual measures are available on our website.
Recent highlights and updates
News
Read Chair Craig Pauling's letter to the Minister for the Environment, requesting the government reviews the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality.
News
77% of Canterbury swim sites are safe this summer. Check LAWA for weekly updates, toxic algae alerts and long-term grades before diving in.
News
Upper Waitaki water quality shows mixed results; action underway to reduce nutrients, protect lakes, and guide future land and water decisions.
News
Our 2024 annual groundwater quality survey showed an increase in E. coli detections and a majority of wells with increasing nitrate concentration trends.
News
A decades-long dream for braided river care groups across Waitaha Canterbury has come to life with the launch of a new GIS-based mapping platform.