Te Wāhapū Wetlands

Restoring the Health of Little Waihī Estuary Through Native Planting and Partnership

TAKT has been actively involved in a native planting project supporting the development of the new wetland in the Little Waihī estuary.

The land was purchased in a partnership arrangement between the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and five iwi. This project has been funded 50% by the Regional Council and 50% from Te Wāhapū o Waihī through the Ministry for the Environment’s Freshwater Improvement Fund.

The whole Wāhapū project is to help improve water quality. The wetlands will be filtering some drain waters before they enter the estuary. This is done by directing the flow through native riparian plants, which help absorb and remove excess nutrients and contaminants, mainly from agricultural runoff.

Little Waihī has been classified as the fourth most polluted estuary in Aotearoa.