Tuesday 9 June 2026
ORC is expanding its groundwater monitoring network in the Hāwea area with the installation of two new groundwater monitoring wells.
A drilling rig is operating in the area this week and into next week as the wells are installed at Hāwea Cemetery and in the Maungawera Valley.
ORC Groundwater Scientist Sam Yeo says the new monitoring sites will help improve understanding of local groundwater resources and the important role they play in supporting communities and the environment.
“Groundwater is a vital resource for many Otago communities, providing water for drinking, agriculture and industry, while also supporting rivers, lakes and wetlands,” Ms Yeo says.
“These new monitoring wells will give us valuable information about how groundwater systems in the Hāwea area behave over time and how they interact with the wider environment.”
A Hāwea Cemetery site has been selected to help scientists better understand the relationship between groundwater and Lake Hāwea, including how groundwater levels respond to changes in the lake.
“The cemetery location might seem unusual, but it is ideally positioned to help us monitor groundwater levels and understand how they are influenced by fluctuations in Lake Hāwea,” Ms Yeo says.
The second well is being installed in the Maungawera Valley, where it will fill an important gap in ORC’s groundwater monitoring network.
“This area has been identified as an aquifer; an underground layer of rock, gravel, sand, or silt that stores groundwater. Despite its significance, we haven’t previously had a dedicated monitoring site there,” Ms Yeo says.
“Establishing a monitoring well in the valley will help us build a better understanding of groundwater availability and quality in the area.”
Once installed, both wells will be used to monitor groundwater levels on an ongoing basis. At the Maungawera Valley site, ORC scientists will also collect quarterly water quality samples to assess the suitability of groundwater for uses such as drinking water and stock water. The data will be available on ORC’s Environmental Data Portal in due course.
The information collected from the new sites will contribute to a clearer picture of Otago’s groundwater resources and support future resource management decisions.
ORC’s groundwater monitoring network consists of sites across the region, where groundwater levels and quality are regularly measured to help track environmental trends and inform management of the region’s freshwater resources.
www.orc.govt.nz/groundwater
www.orc.govt.nz/otagobores
www.orc.govt.nz/edp
