Local projects and priorities

Whaka-Ora Healthy Harbour’s vision is to ensure the area’s ecological and cultural health as mahinga kai is restored for us and our children after us.

Find out how five organisations have come together to work toward the restoration of Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour.

Sediment coming from road-side cuttings into waterways in the Lyttelton Harbour basin has been a problem ever since the roads were created as it negatively impacts the health of streams and the harbour.

The erosion and sediment control pilot project involves testing erosion and sediment control techniques.

This will help us provide useful guidance to Christchurch City Council in order to significantly reduce sediment loss from existing Lyttelton Harbour road-side cuttings.

A plan change to the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan introduces policies, rules and limits specific to the Te Roto o Wairewa/Lake Forsyth catchment based on recommendations made by the Banks Peninsula water zone committee.

The focus of Plan Change 6 is to improve water quantity and quality in the Wairewa catchment, especially in relation to phosphorus-rich sediment entering the low-lying waterways and the lake itself.

Phosphorus is a significant factor in the frequent cyanobacteria blooms which can be a serious health issue for lake users and animals. For more information on cyanobacteria warnings, click here.

The policies, rules and limits in the plan change exclude stock from waterways, encourage bank stabilisation, enable construction of a sediment basin and/or wetland at the head of the lake and encourage the planting of native species.

Community Questions and Answers - April 2017

There are a lot of unknowns about the issues of public health around the lake and other environmental risks. The community who live around the lake want to be informed. Here you can read a selection of Community Questions and Answers.