Devotion to river testing recognised
Keeping the Maitai River clean is a subject very close to Phillippa Eberlein’s heart.
Eberlein has been a Friends of the Maitai volunteer for the past three years and in that time has kept a close eye on the river.
She said she had always been interested in environment and science, studying microbiology and ecology.
Eberlein moved from England to New Zealand in 2004.
She said she saw an advert in the paper asking for someone to monitor the Maitai River and take samples of the water for Escherichia coli (E.coli).
‘‘We’re living right on the river, I thought it would be really interesting to get involved and the more I do it, the more I enjoy it.’’
When she started, NIWA ran a project training volunteers to collect water samples, but when that finished Friends of the Maitai continued.
Once a month, she heads to four river sites in the Brook Stream and Maitai River with her equipment and sets out to collect data.
‘‘I filter the water, put a sample on a petrifilm and leave in a sealed container to incubate overnight.
‘‘After 24 hours I count the colonies. The petrifilm gel provides a growth media of nutrients and colour producing chemicals so the E.coli present as blue colonies.’’
That data is then supplied to Nelson City Council.
Eberlein heads out in almost all weather together with two other Friends of the Maitai volunteers, Tom Taylor and Tom Kennedy.
Her environmental efforts have been recognised by the Nelson City Council who named her Nature’s Hero of the month for February.
She said the quality of the river was quite stable and hadn’t changed much over the past few years.
‘‘The more data we compile, it’ll be interesting to look back at that and see what we’ve got.
‘‘It would be lovely in the long- term to see an improvement.’’
Eberlein hoped her efforts would contribute towards an increase in the fish population.
‘‘We all want a clean and healthy river. Planting and keeping it rubbish-free helps, and there is a lot we can do to stop pollution getting in to the river from stormwater drains.’’