Trends in hydrology and water resources

Report: TR 2022/06

Authors: Bevan Jenkins and Sung Soo Koh

This report presents an analysis of hydrological data in the Waikato region as part of the State of Environment (SOE) reporting programme. The environmental data relating to hydrology and water resource utilisation held at the council was reviewed for availability and reliability and analysed to determine trends in the data.

The hydrological variables evaluated in this report include rainfall, evapotranspiration, groundwater levels, streamflow and water use. The analysis and reporting focused on the low flow aspects of hydrology as this is more relevant to water resource management. Due to the breadth of the hydrological dataset, the nature of the analysis is exploratory, with the intent to find and describe patterns.