Table Of ContentDavid P. Hamilton · Kevin J. Collier
John M. Quinn · Clive Howard-Williams
Editors
Lake
Restoration
Handbook
A New Zealand Perspective
Lake Restoration Handbook
(cid:129) (cid:129)
David P. Hamilton Kevin J. Collier
(cid:129)
John M. Quinn Clive Howard-Williams
Editors
Lake Restoration Handbook
A New Zealand Perspective
Editors
DavidP.Hamilton KevinJ.Collier
AustralianRiversInstitute EnvironmentalResearchInstitute
GriffithUniversity TheUniversityofWaikato
Brisbane,Australia Hamilton,NewZealand
EnvironmentalResearchInstitute
TheUniversityofWaikato
Hamilton,NewZealand
JohnM.Quinn(deceased) CliveHoward-Williams
NIWA(NationalInstituteofWater NIWA(NationalInstituteofWater
andAtmosphericResearch) andAtmosphericResearch)
Hamilton,NewZealand Christchurch,NewZealand
ISBN978-3-319-93042-8 ISBN978-3-319-93043-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93043-5
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In Memoriam: John Quinn, PhD, August 5,
–
1957 November 13, 2018
John M. Quinn took on the editorial role of this
book with the renowned enthusiasm and compe-
tencethatwerethehallmarksofhisinvolvementin
scientific research. He was still editing chapters in
the book a few days before his death, but he was
alsoapassionatefamilyman,musicianandartist.
Johnwasstronglydedicatedtoimprovinglakes
and rivers in New Zealand. In 35 years, he
progressed through the National Institute of
WaterandAtmosphericResearch(NIWA)organi-
sation to be the Freshwater and Estuaries Chief
Scientist. During this time, he carried out impor-
tant research in land–water connections, much focused on two important catch-
ments, Whatawhata and Tukituki, in the North Island of New Zealand. In the
Whatawhata catchment study, he worked with farmers to adopt new farming
methods to improve stream water quality while maintaining profitable farming
systems.Similarly,intheTukitukicatchment,heworkedwiththelocalcommunity
totrytofindwaystoincreasestreamhealthunderintensepressurefromincreasing
agricultural production. John was passionate about these projects, in part because
they connected him to his roots—he was from a farm in the Waipukurau and as a
childheswaminthelocalTukitukiRiver.
In 2016, John led a NIWA team that worked with the Waikato River Raupatu
Trust,aMāoriorganisationresponsibleforimplementingtheWaikatoRiverSettle-
mentwiththeCrownonbehalfofWaikato-Tainuiiwi.Areportcardwasdeveloped
fortheWaikatoandWaiparivers.Thereportcardreceivedinternationalacclaimand
hasbeenanimportantpartoftheengagementofindigenoustribesintherestoration
ofthesetworivers.
JohnhasworkedwithsuccessivegovernmentsthroughtheMinistryofEnviron-
mentandtheMinistryforPrimaryIndustriestoprovideadviceonfreshwaterissues
in New Zealand. He was much respected for his impressive scientific publication
v
vi InMemoriam:JohnQuinn,PhD,August5,1957–November13,2018
record,balancedperspectiveandabilitytoactivelyengagewithabroadcrosssection
of the community to communicate complex scientific topics. John’s methods were
notalwaysorthodox;hismusicaltalentwassometimesusedto“breaktheice”and
beginpresentationswithself-composedsongsonthesubjectareaofhispresentation.
Ultimately,hesoughttobringfocustoresolvesomeoftheproblemsoflanduseand
freshwaterinacountrywhereagriculturalproductionisacriticalcomponentofthe
economy, but citizens value freshwater above all other resources. John loved the
challengeofaddressingdiffusesourcepollution,havingseenthetransitionoverpast
decadesofremovalofpointsourcepollutionfromriversthroughoutNewZealand.
His PhD research had examined one of New Zealand’s most polluted rivers, the
Manawatu,wheredirectdischargesofeffluentfromtreatedsewage,dairyfactories
andmeatworkswereoncecommonplace.
In2012,JohnwonNIWA’sAppliedScienceExcellenceAwardforusingfresh-
water research to guide policymakers in management of water issues. He had
previously won the Royal Society Bronze Award for his efforts in communicating
science.In2018,shortlybeforehisdeath,Johnwasawardedthehighestaccoladeof
theNewZealandFreshwaterSciencesSociety(NZFSS),theMedalofExcellencefor
outstandingcontributionstofreshwaterscience,recognisinghislifetimecontribution
toresearch intoimprovingstreamhealth,helpingtodevelopfreshwater policyand
moregenerallyassistinginnaturalresourcemanagement.Johnlefttheworldearlier
thanheshouldhavebutmadearichcontributiontofreshwatermanagementforthe
benefitofallNewZealanders.
Foreword
In1987,whatwasthenNewZealand’snationalwaterandsoilconservationagency
publishedaLakeManager’sHandbook.Ieditedit,andthethenDeputyChairmanof
the agency, Basil Parkes, wrote theforeword. Some 20 government and university
scientists and planners contributed the material, with a similar number of our
colleagues providing peer reviews of it. Looking at the names of those involved, I
seethatwhilesomehavemovedonandothershavedied,aboutone-thirdappearto
be still active in freshwater science. And I gather that most of the copies of the
handbook that are still on people’s shelves are looking well-thumbed and a bit
battered—nottomentionbeingincreasinglyout-of-date.
So 30 years later, it’s a pleasure and privilege for me to be asked to write the
forewordofthiswelcomesuccessortotheoriginalhandbook—theLakeRestoration
Handbook. Professor David P. Hamilton arrived at the University of Waikato in
2002and soonestablished aninternationally respected centrefor lakescience there.
Early on, he was successful in securing long-term government funding for the
centre’s studies; I was a member of a peer review committee established at the
time and clearly recall that a key goal of the funders was the production of a new
handbook.Andthisisit.Inproducingthisnewbook,Davidandhisco-editorshave
broughttogethernearly40ofNewZealand’sbestscientiststopoolandsharetheir
knowledge of the science underpinning lake restoration; three of these—Max M.
Gibbs, Clive Howard-Williams and David Rowe—also contributed to the 1987
handbook,andIsalutetheirdedicationandperseverance.
It seems to me that there are three key areas where the new handbook clearly
updates our understanding of our lakes and their management. Firstly, several
chapters in the first part of the book describe how important catchment processes
canbeexpectedtochangeunderalternativemanagementregimes;theyalsodescribe
howourabilitytounderstandandpredictthesechangeshasimprovedwithsucces-
sive generations of computer models of lakes and their catchments. Secondly,
althoughtheoriginalhandbookdidtouchonthemanagementofbiologicalcompo-
nents of lake ecosystems—including phytoplankton, macrophytes and fish—the
management of lake water quality was a major focus. In the new restoration
vii
viii Foreword
handbook,however,biodiversityhasbecomeadominanttheme,withapproachesto
the control of invasive species and the re-establishment of native species being
reviewedandevaluated.Finally,thehandbookdescribesthedevelopmentofseveral
newtechnologies,rangingfromthemolecularlevel(environmentalDNA)totheuse
ofmooredwaterqualitysensorsinlakesandremotesensingbysatellite.
Changing social and cultural perspectives in New Zealand are also described in
the restoration handbook. And these have undoubtedly played a part in the wide-
spread and growing calls from the community to halt the deterioration of water
qualityhere.Thejointcentralandlocalgovernmentplantoprotectthewaterquality
ofourlargestlake,LakeTaupo,isastrikingexampleofhowweareabletorespond
tothesecalls.Muchofthescienceunderpinningthisgroundbreakinginitiativehad
been described in the original Lake Managers Handbook. So I believe we can be
confident that the Lake Restoration Handbook will also underpin future efforts to
protectandenhanceourmanysadly-degradedlakes.
CanIfinishbyechoingBasilParkes’blessingofhisfirsthandbook:Mayyouruse
ofitbeasuccess.
Hamilton,NewZealand W.N.(Bill)Vant
March2017
Preface
Freshwater is probably the most impacted category of natural resources on the
planet. It bears the legacies of past human activities which include damming of
rivers,intentionalintroductionsofexoticspecies,point-sourcepollutionandlossof
connectedecosystemssuchaswetlandsandpeatlands.Itmustnowberesilientinthe
faceofnewandemergingchallengesashumans—mostlyunintentionally—transport
increasingnumbersofexoticspeciestonewfreshwaterhabitatsandexportincreas-
ingdiffuse-sourcepollutantloadsasaresponsetoincreasinghumanpopulationsand
adriveforincreasingagriculturalproductivity.Climatechangeloomsasperhapsthe
greatest challenge of all, potentially changing lake mixing patterns, affecting the
availabilityandqualityoffluvialwatersandalteringhabitatsfororganismsthathave
previously adapted to environmental change over time scales of centuries to
millennia. These globally pressing issues are captured through Boxes contained
within the chapters of this book. Authors from across the globe have contributed
to these Boxes, which provide different perspectives on lake restoration related to
theirareasofsubjectspecialisation.
Lakesarerecognisedassentinelsforhumanimpacts.Unlikefluvialwaters,water
residence times of most natural lakes, and even many artificial lakes, allow their
physico-chemical and biotic character to progressively approach an equilibrium
conditioninresponsetoenvironmentalforcings,sometimesonlybeingsubstantially
disturbedbyanewspeciesintroductionoramajorstormevent.Thecompositionand
the organisms that lakes support therefore represent a complex integration of cli-
matic,hydrological,geochemicalandbioticforcings.TheindigenousMāoripeople
ofNewZealandrefertonaturallakesastāonga(treasures),withamauri(lifeforce)
thatcanbelostordegradedifitisnotrespectedandnurtured.Theseviewpointsare
increasingly enshrined into New Zealand environmental law; in 2017 the
Whanganui River was given the legal status of a person—indivisible and a living
whole being extending from the mountains to the sea—under a treaty settlement
betweentheCrownandthelocalMāoritribe.Avarietyofsettlementsbetweenthe
CrownandMāoritribes(e.g.,lakebedownershipcededtoMāori)havetakenplace
in recent years, and many such lake settlements are now mooted across
ix
x Preface
NewZealand.Thesesettlementshaveprovidedamajorimpetusforlakerestorative
activities.
Lake restoration practitioners must now connect across local and international
scales, that is, from local communities who may seek cultural redress as well as
improved lake water quality, ecological status and amenity value, to international
projects whose discoveries are leading to a revolution of new and accessible
monitoring tools and greater diversity of in-lake treatment methods
(e.g. geoengineering) to address nutrient legacies. In between is a complex array
ofenvironmental,socialandpolicyimperatives.InNewZealand,thesearecaptured
inaframeworkknownastheNationalPolicyStatementforFreshwaterManagement
(2014),whichdirectsregionaloperationalunits(regionalcouncils)tomeetthewater
qualityobjectivesderivedfromacollaborativecommunityconsultationprocess.The
structures, policies and natural and social science disciplines involved in lake
restorationreflect thecomplex and highly interdisciplinary natureof implementing
successfulrestoration programmes.Thisbookprovides chapterswhichcoverthese
subjects and provides numerous New Zealand case studies, as well as examining
citizen participation and Māori roles in lake restoration. Many of the issues raised,
the impediments encountered and the solutions are not unique to New Zealand, as
reflected in the close connection between the chapter content and the Boxes
containedtherein.
This book provides a contemporary perspective and update on the Lake Man-
ager’s Handbook published in 1987. The Lake Manager’s Handbook focused on
implementing monitoring programmes and managing lakes in New Zealand as a
resource (e.g. for hydroelectricity and trout fisheries). In the intervening 30 years,
environmentalpressureshaveintensified,andtherehasbeenastrongandenduring
desire expressed by the New Zealand public to do better: that badly degraded
lowlandlakesmustberestoredandmanyotherlakesurgentlyneedtobeprotected.
The New Zealand Resource Management Act (1991) provided the impetus to
address much of the point-source pollution to New Zealand lakes in a manner not
dissimilar to the United States’ Clean Water Act (1992). Diffuse pollution from
agriculture andurbanisation aremore complex and nebulous,however, withmajor
changes at the river basin scale also likely to have economic repercussions. The
EuropeanWaterFrameworkDirective(2000)andtheNewZealandNationalPolicy
Statement for Freshwater Management (2014) seek to manage diffuse pollution at
the river basin scale, but there are still relatively few working examples across the
globewhereaddressingdiffuse(asopposedtopoint-source)pollutionhasimmedi-
ately brought about major improvements in water quality and ecological status of
lakes. Lake ecosystems can have long response times that relate to a variety of
human and natural factors. Lags can include the time required for policy and plan
development,toaddresscatchmentandin-lakelegaciesofsediments,nutrientsand
exotic species and, in some cases, to transitioning away from a resilient degraded
stateafteranecologicaltippingpointhasoccurred.Thefinalchapterchapterinthis
book attempts to synthesise the challenges of lake restoration and makes recom-
mendations on how to improve the quality of decision-making and the
