STEPS samples water to detect species in Waitītiko Meola Creek
Liz May 19th, 2021
STEPS has now joined hundreds of other groups around NZ in using an eDNA test to sample the water reveals all the species present in our awa – from microbes to mammals.
A filter is used to collect the DNA samples from less than 1 litre of water. More information about the method and the EPA’s nation wide water survey is available here and here. We thank Freddie for putting her lab experience to the task!
Sadly Waitītiko Meola Creek receives approximately 1 million cubic meters of stormwater and raw sewage overflows every year from Auckland’s combined sewers.
We expect to hear results over the next few months. It will be interesting to see how much or how little life there is in the upper creek at Roy Clements Treeway, compared with the lower creek around 5 km away. It will also be interesting to see how badly the frequent overflows affect life in this creek compared with other creeks in Central Auckland and elsewhere.
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