New Zealand's freshwater systems are in significant trouble. The majority of lowland rivers and streams are degraded — affected by agricultural runoff, urban stormwater, water extraction, and the loss of native riparian vegetation. Declining water quality affects mahinga kai, swimming safety, biodiversity, and the cultural and spiritual relationships that Māori and many communities have with waterways.
Restoring New Zealand's freshwater systems is one of the most significant environmental challenges facing the country — and one where philanthropic grants, alongside government investment and council action, play an increasingly important role.
Agricultural impacts: Intensive land use, particularly dairy farming, has contributed to elevated nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment levels in many catchments. Runoff from pasture and fertiliser is the single largest contributor to freshwater degradation.
Urban stormwater: Urban areas generate significant stormwater runoff carrying contaminants from roads, roofs, and gardens. Stormwater management infrastructure in many cities and towns is inadequate for the density of development.
Water extraction: Many rivers and streams, particularly in Canterbury and Otago, have seen significant water extracted for irrigation, reducing flows to levels that damage ecosystem function.
Wetland loss: New Zealand has lost over 90% of its original wetlands — drained for farming and development. Wetlands are critical for water quality (filtering sediment and nutrients), biodiversity, and flood management.
Indigenous fish: Many of New Zealand's endemic freshwater fish — including various galaxiid species — are in decline or threatened with extinction. Barriers to fish passage (dams, culverts, weirs) and water quality degradation are primary drivers.
Riparian planting
Planting native vegetation along stream and river banks is one of the most effective and tractable interventions for improving water quality. Riparian vegetation reduces runoff, provides shade that regulates water temperature, provides habitat, and prevents bank erosion. Community groups, landowners, iwi, and regional councils plant hundreds of thousands of native plants along waterways each year.
Wetland restoration
Creating and restoring wetlands — re-flooding drained paddocks, establishing native wetland vegetation, creating constructed wetlands — filters nutrients and sediment before they reach waterways. Wetland restoration grants support feasibility, design, plant material, and planting work.
Fencing to exclude stock
Keeping livestock out of waterways is fundamental to improving water quality in farming landscapes. Grants supporting fencing and off-stream water supply for stock reduce direct deposition of animal waste in waterways.
Fish passage restoration
Removing or modifying barriers to fish movement — replacing culverts, installing fish passes, removing old weirs — allows indigenous fish to migrate between habitats and complete their life cycles.
Citizen science and monitoring
Community water quality monitoring programmes — sampling water quality, counting aquatic invertebrates, recording fish species — generate data that informs restoration priorities and tracks progress. These programmes also build community engagement with local waterways.
Freshwater advocacy
Advocating for stronger freshwater regulations, better enforcement, and policy reform. Organisations like Forest and Bird, Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group, and regional environmental groups work on the systemic policy changes needed to complement on-the-ground restoration.
Ministry for the Environment: Policy, some freshwater restoration funding
Department of Conservation: Freshwater biodiversity, fish passage on public land
Regional councils: The primary funders of catchment-level freshwater restoration through rates and environmental levy programmes
Jobs for Nature programme: Government employment programme that funded significant freshwater restoration work (largely completed by 2024)
Sustainable Land Management / ECAN programmes: Regional council-led land management programmes
Gap funding for community groups
Many catchment and stream groups operate on very small budgets — often just enough for plant material and tools. Grants covering operational costs (coordinator time, equipment, training) help these groups do more.
Landowner engagement and support
Most freshwater restoration on agricultural land requires landowner participation. Grants supporting the facilitation, advice, and cost-sharing that persuade landowners to fence waterways and plant riparian vegetation are high-leverage.
Wetland restoration capital
Wetland restoration projects often have significant upfront costs — earthworks, plant material, fencing. Philanthropic capital for restoration projects, often as co-investment alongside regional council funding, can make projects viable.
Monitoring and evaluation
Understanding whether restoration work is having the intended effect — improving water quality, increasing biodiversity — requires monitoring data. Grants supporting water quality monitoring, biological monitoring, and evaluation of restoration approaches improve the evidence base.
Freshwater advocacy and legal work
Challenging consents for discharges, advocating for stronger water quality standards, and engaging in freshwater planning processes requires organisational capacity and sometimes legal expertise. Grants supporting this advocacy are important for systemic change.
Māori freshwater leadership
Iwi and hapū have both cultural authority and practical knowledge about freshwater systems in their rohe. Grants supporting iwi-led freshwater management — including customary monitoring, mauri assessment, and iwi-led restoration — respect this authority and leverage the knowledge it represents.
Tahua's grants management platform supports environmental funders managing freshwater and conservation grant portfolios — with the spatial reporting, milestone tracking, and impact measurement tools that help funders assess the impact of restoration investment across catchments.