LIUDD/ WSD Paired catchment comparisons urban: Flat Bush and Oteha Valley, Albany

This multidisciplinary research, in comparative residential catchments in Auckland, investigates whether a composite of changes in residential urban form and management including clustering of buildings, urban stream protection, stream riparian corridor re-vegetation in conjunction with at-source stormwater management techniques and ‘Water Sensitive’ infrastructure result in improved aquatic ecosystem condition. This condition is measured using a quantitative biological index of benthic stream macro-invertebrates. This enables a comparison to be made between traditional and water-sensitive urban forms and between different phases of development over time within an individual catchment or cluster of catchments.