Habitat Destruction... Direct loss of habitat; streams straightened, channelled and piped. "Management" of streams for both urban and rural environments. Waterways choked and degraded with weeds. Loss of natural riparian vegetation; direct sunlight effects such as heating, algal blooms reduce water quality, erosion produces fine sediments which smother the food sources of aquatic insects. Draining of wetlands for agriculture; less than 9% of New Zealand's wetlands remain -watertables unfortunately cross property lines! Taking of water for irrigation in horticulture and agriculture. Reduced summer base flows through draining of rainfall straight through to stormwater drains with no ground soakage.

Migration Barriers... Culverts and dams; can prevent migration of most native fish e.g. juvenile galaxiids, bullies, eels etc. - Our waterways upstream then slowly become dead through a lack of recruitment. Obstacles can be from simply poorly designed road culverts, up to the Waikato River's 8 hydroelectric dams!

Pollution... Point sources; pulp and paper mills, power stations, sewage still today direct their effluent to our waterways. Diffuse sources; agriculture, horticulture, urbanisation, soil erosion all cause pollution runoff into headwater streams. Urban stormwater runoff; where our homes pollute the homes of our fish and other aquatic life. Our waterways are the lifeblood of our country, and eventually affect everything in it; including ourselves. New Zealand is not as clean and green as we like to think!

Introduced Fishes... Coarse fish, koi carp, grasscarp, catfish, rudd, perch and tench all compete for food resources and also degrade native fish habitats. Rainbow and brown trout are significant competitors and also direct predators. Other introduced fishes; especially the small but vicious so-called 'mosquitofish' or Gambusia also threaten our native species.

How 'green' are you to our waterways...?

Take the 'Clean and Green' quiz to find out...