Seven organisations are working together to understand the big picture of water quality - from the plant to the aquifer.

Crop & Food Research, AgResearch, Dexcel, Landcare Research, ESR, Lincoln Environmental and Environment Canterbury are behind the Integrated Research for Aquifer Protection (IRAP) project.

IRAP partners and their contribution to the project

Crop & Food Research and AgResearch - www.crop.cri.nz

• Environmental impacts of land use changes and intensification
• Soil and plant processes an interaction
• Vadose zone processes

• Dairy farm systems

• Soil information
• Scaling from farm to regional level

• Vadose zone processes
• Impact of land use of groundwater quality

• Modelling whole farm systems
• Vadose zone processes
• How contaminants move to and disperse through groundwater

Environment Canterbury - www.ecan.govt.nz

• Providing information and data

IRAP acknowledges the support of a group of potential end users of the research: Ministry for the Environment, MAF, Federated Farmers, Environment Canterbury, Environment Waikato, Environment Southland, Selwyn District Council and Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu.

The Science Group is made up of scientists working for each of the organisations. It aims to produce:

• Nationally applicable tools to assess the links between rural land-use change and aquifer scale effects on surface and groundwater quality.
• Identification of sustainable boundaries of land-use change over aquifers.

The End User Advisory Group is involved to ensure the science tools developed meet the needs of the end users. It includes farming representatives, industry sectors, Ngai Tahu, senior staff from regional and district councils, and central government agencies. Each organisation contributes the following:

• Providing advice and input into the policy and planning needs of the councils.
• Provision of scientific expertise and data funding.

• Providing advice and input into the policy and planning needs of the councils.
• Provision of scientific expertise and data

• Providing advice and input into the policy and planning needs of the councils.
• Provision of scientific expertise and data funding

• Assistance to the science group in ensuring the tools meet the needs of the agricultural community, and are understandable and user-friendly.

• Providing input from the arable sector.

• Providing input from the horticulture sector.

• Representatives will ensure the project produces nationally applicable tools and will provide data and information as necessary.

• Representatives will ensure the project produces nationally applicable tools and will provide data and information as necessary.

• Advice and input into the policy and planning needs of the councils. In addition the councils will provide data as required by the science group.

• Respresentatives will ensure the research and the ultimate tools are useful to tanagata whenua and do not compromise cultural values in the test areas.