About

11 Responses to About

1. Cecily Guarrera says:

   February 26, 2013 at 12:28

   Hi Robyn – we are thinking of buying a lifestyle block on the Huangarua River (4km SE of Martinborough) and I am struggling to find info on water quality and flooding that I can understand. I notice you have mentioned the pollution on the Huangarua River and wondered if you have some links I can access to understand more? Many thanks, Cecily:

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   • robynmmoore says:

     February 27, 2013 at 15:22

     Hi Cecily

     Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, the Huangarua isn’t routinely monitored, for either water quality, nor flow rate, which would give you the best information, and help with your decision. However, there are flood warning alarms on the Huangarua, and they certainly can reveal how many times the river has been in flood. Also, there’s a rainfall monitoring site at Longbush, which gives an indication of the rain entering the Huangarua there. Taking a look back at the stats, it looks like the worst flooding in recent times was in 2004, when the river burst its banks and water was gushing over at the least one road bridge.

     There was a damaging flood in June 2003, and two serious flood events in 2005 – see link below. The river has been raised enough to trigger the flood alarm on numerous occasions since, but I don’t know of any event being any worse than those in 2004. The closest would be 2011, I think, when floods in July were pretty severe. There’s a picture of what the 2011 event looked like on the cover of the Greater Wellington water report for that year.

     The water quality of the Huangaroa is affected by toxic algal blooms through summer – these show up pretty much year on year now. There is some potential good news about that, in that more and more farmers are keeping their stock away from the river altogether – I expect this will have a positive effect pretty quickly. I have sent you the links in an email, including the 2010/11 water report from GWRC. Regards, Robyn

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   • robynmmoore says:

     March 3, 2013 at 08:33

     Hi Cecily – a follow-on from our conversation, this was in last week’s Wairarapa Times (27 Feb 2013) – btw the Huangarua and Ruamahanga Rivers meet near Martinborough. Here’s a paste from the news story: Toxic algae coverage is so high at the popular picnicking spot at Kokotau Bridge on the Ruamahanga River that health and regional authorities are urging people to avoid this part of the river altogether. Warning signs have been put up along key river access points in the area.
     The risk at other river sites monitored in the Wairarapa, including the Waipoua River, is low but this could change rapidly as the hot, dry weather continues. Toxic algae may also be growing in rivers which are not monitored.
     Greater Wellington Regional Council monitors for toxic algae at popular swimming spots from Double Bridges (north of Masterton) to Martinborough on the Ruamahanga River, and at sites on the Waipoua, Waingawa and Waiohine rivers.
     Contact with toxic algae, which forms brown or black clumps on river beds, can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, skin irritations and other allergy-type symptoms in humans. It can kill livestock and dogs (Wairarapa Times 2013).

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2. Janet Boyce says:

   October 31, 2012 at 10:06

   Thanks Robin , will have a go at it .,Actually what attracted to the photo was the girl who reminded me of my Grand-daughter , and am probably being a bit ambitious as I have really only tried landscapes so far , perhaps its time to push myself a bit harder , Regard Janet

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3. Janet Boyce says:

   October 28, 2012 at 10:48

   Hi Robyn I just started painting a couple of years ago , and came across the photo of the Pauatahanui inlet with the girl and would very much like to try painting it , but thought I should get your permission first . Hope to hear from you , regards Janet

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   • robynmmoore says:

     October 30, 2012 at 18:17

     Hi Janet
     I love this photo and I completely understand why you might wish to paint it 🙂 The young girl is my daughter, so I asked her what she thought about being painted. She said that if you paint something you’re happy with, could we please have a print – perhaps photograph it and send us a digital copy?? If that’s good for you, we are more than happy for you to paint from it. This pic won the Guardians of Pauatahanui Inlet photo comp a few years back – so it’s been on show around Porirua. Thanks for asking. My email is robyn@j.co.nz

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4. Simon East says:

   March 8, 2012 at 23:56

   Hi Robyn,

   I’m putting together a 25 minute documentary about the bottled water industry in New Zealand.

   It would be great to discuss with you some of the issues you write about. Do you have an email address I can contact you on?

   Thank you,

   Simon

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   • robynmmoore says:

     March 9, 2012 at 11:19

     Hi Simon,
     Thanks for getting in touch – I’ve flicked you an email:)

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5. greenfishbluefish says:

   January 20, 2012 at 17:02

   Well it is a fabulous first blog – so far. Water is a great subject

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   • robynmmoore says:

     January 22, 2012 at 21:10

     Thank you – was interested to read your blog – I’m taking a paper in marine ecology this semester, and may be inspired to write on this subject too… I enjoyed a couple of clips on your site, particularly on the doco/book Cool it – challenging perspectives. Thanks for taking the time to comment – btw your site name is inspired:)

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6. Delonte says:

   December 11, 2011 at 23:32

   You’re on top of the game. Thanks for sharing.

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