Land cover effects on water availability
Landcare Research and Tasman District Council have completed a significant project summarising the state of knowledge into land cover effects on water availability.
The project was funded from the Ministry for the Environment's Sustainable Management Fund (Project 2167), together with contributions from local government organisations (see below for list of contributors to the project). This project is also a contribution to UNESCO-IHP HELP - Motueka Basin Project.
The main aims were to compile background information on water use by different vegetation covers in New Zealand, and to use this information to develop a comprehensive decision support procedure that will assist users and managers of land and water to predict the effects land-cover changes may have on the water balance.
There are 6 reports produced from the project:
1. An annotated bibliography of world literature on water use by Pinus radiata
Rowe, L.K.R., Fahey, B.D, Jackson, R.J. (2001) The hydrology of Pinus radiata plantations: an annotated bibliography. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0001/147 (
689 kb )
2. An annotated bibliography of world literature on water use by Douglas fir
Rowe, L.K.R., Fahey, B.D, Jackson, R.J. (2001) Hydrology of Douglas fir plantations/forests: an annotated bibliography. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0102/007 (388 kb )
3. An annotated bibliography of NZ literature on water use including that by other land uses such as tussock grassland, pasture and scrubland species
Rowe, L.K.R., Fahey, B.D, Jackson, R.J. (2001) New Zealand land-use hydrology: an annotated bibliography. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0102/024 (480 kb )
4. Summary of catchments with data available for use in evaluation of land cover effects on water availability - split by region
Rowe, L.K.R (2003) Summary of catchments with data suitable for use in the evaluation of landcover effects on water availability. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0102/162 (364 kb )
5. Summary of information from the previous bibliographies - split by processes in the hydrological cycle . The information is also summarised into tables contained in a separate report (Report 5a).
Rowe, L.K.R., Jackson, R.J., Fahey, B.D (2002) Land use and water resources: hydrological effects of different vegetation covers. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0203/027 (674 kb ) (summary tables in appendices a separate download (61 kb ) )
6. A comparison of streamflow from New Zealand catchments with different vegetation covers - split by region . The information is also summarised into tables contained in a separate report (Report 6a) .
Rowe, L.K.R (2003) Land use and water resources: a comparison of streamflow from New Zealand catchments with different vegetation covers. Landcare Research Contract Report LC02032/188 (699 kb )(summary tables in appendices a separate download (54 kb ))
Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd retains copyright for the reports.
Decision Support Tool (WATYIELD)
The project has also developed a Decision Support Tool (DST), which is based around a water balance model developed by staff at Landcare Research.
The model is intended for use in situations where there is a limited amount of data on the climate, soils, and vegetation of the catchment, and is similar to the approach widely used for computing crop water requirements. It was updated in 2009.
It runs in a Windows environment and uses an EXCEL spreadsheet as a base (i.e. for input and output).
The DST consists of:
- A user guide for the model (433 kb ) including details of how to install the model and the background information required to run it. Fahey, B.D., Jackson, R.J., Davie, T.J.A. (2004) User's Guide for the Land Use Change Water Balance Model (LUCWBM), Landcare Research Contract Report LC0203/185.
- An installation package for the model (2902 kb zip file)
- The new 2010 installation package for the modified WATYIELD model (17.5 Mb zip file) (added 26 March 2010)
- Supplementary information for WATYIELD (329 kb zip file) including an input spreadsheet set up ready for running the model.
If you would like more information on this project please contact Jagath Ekanayake (EkanayakeJ@LandcareResearch.co.nz) or Joseph Thomas (joseph.thomas@tdc.govt.nz).
Financial contributors to the project were:
- Ministry for the Environment (SMF project 2167)
- Tasman District Council
- Environment Canterbury
- City Forests Ltd (Dunedin)
- Hawkes Bay Regional Council
- Marlborough District Council
- Environment Southland
- Horizons MW (now Horizons Regional Council)