Wayside Stream Walk Assessment

Summary of report findings

Image of the Wayside stream. Wayside Stream is one of the last undeveloped catchments on the North Shore. The Wayside Stream catchment is primarily rural landuse with small areas of agriculture and few residential properties. Approximately 80% of the catchment is remnant or regenerating native bush through which a majority of the permanent watercourse flows. A large number of waterfalls, cascades and pools were recorded throughout Wayside Stream including a significant wetland in the lower reaches. There is currently very little formal pipe infrastructure within the catchment.

Length		20km
Size of Catchment		306ha
Vegetation Cover		80%
Catchment Imperviousness		5.5%
District Plan Land Use	Business	0.1%
	Recreation	11.3%
	Residential	5.8%
	Residential Expansion	0.9%
	Roads	3.2%
	Rural	78.6
	Special Purpose	0%
	Structure Plan	0%
Recreational Use		There is limited information available about the state of recreational use of the catchment. A short walkway has been constructed recently in the upper catchment and a community group are involved in Wai Care monitoring.
Substrate		Substrate is predominantly silt/mud. There are areas where erosion has exposed bedrock.
Natural Wetlands		25 wetlands recorded. Predominantly riverine headwater or floodplain, within agricultural land and dominated by exotic species.
Artificial Wetlands		Five wetlands recorded. Mainly farm wetlands/ponds.
Periphyton		The cover of periphyton is not at nuisance levels anywhere in the Wayside Stream. Some filamentous or diatomous algae occurred in open areas agricultural landuse.
Macrophytes		Generally good, with a few locations where there are possible management issues. These are identified in Table 7.
Macroinvertebrates		A study conducted in 2009 found macroinvertebrate populations to be of a high quality. (MCI = 131, EPT = 12)
Fish		Nine species of native fish and crustaceans were recorded during the stream walk. The most abundant were banded kokopu (Galaxias fasciatus).
Potential Barriers to Fish Passage		Nine man-made barriers, consisting of mainly perched private culverts. There are some natural barriers which restrict passage for swimmers and some barriers which restrict all fish.
Channel Modification		Wayside Stream is generally unmodified with minor modifications present only in the Middle and Lower Catchments
Erosion around Structures		12 structures were identified as having slight or moderate erosion.
Bank Erosion		Wayside Stream has moderate to severe erosion (>40%) throughout the catchment due to the unstable nature of the underlying geology.
Temperature		No existing information available, however given the catchment characteristics, is it expected temperatures will be low and are not likely to have adverse effects.
Suspended Solids, Turbidity And Visual Clarity		No existing information for suspended solids and turbidity. Clarity tube readings from the Stream Walk showed variation between reaches with upper catchments reaching >0.9 m clarity. The range for the entire stream was 0.05 - 1 m, with an average clarity of approximately 0.45 m.
Oxygen and Oxygen Demand		No existing information for Wayside Stream. Information for similar streams indicate low dissolved oxygen concentrations.
Nutrients		No existing information available. Sections of the stream flowed through agricultural landuse indicating nutrient levels are likely to be elevated in isolated sections of stream.
Contaminants		No existing information regarding man-made contaminants. Sediment is considered to be the main contaminant in the catchment.
Bacteria and Pathogens		No existing information for Wayside Stream.
Sediment Quality		No existing information for Wayside Stream. Tests carried out in the marine receiving environment show elevated levels of heavy metals and PAH associated with urban stormwater.
Debris		Significant debris jams and fallen trees are present within the watercourse as a consequence of excellent riparian cover.
Stream Grouping	Group 1, Stream Mouth	0.16 km/0.6%
	Group 2, High value low disturbance	18.6 km/73.3%
	Group 3a, Urban semi-modified	6.39 km/25.2%
	Group 3b, Urban modified	0.17 km/0.7%
	Group 4, Concrete lined channel	0.05 km/0.2%
	Group 5, Piped section	0km