This report summarises information on levels of the faecal indicator bacteria, Escherichia coli, in New Zealand rivers. In an earlier report "Nationwide and regional state and trends in water quality 1996-2002", the levels of E.coli that exceeded 2002 Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines (for recreation) were derived by comparing site means against the guideline value. However the guideline refers to medians.
This report summarises information on levels of the faecal indicator bacteria, Escherichia coli, in New Zealand rivers. In an earlier report "Nationwide and regional state and trends in water quality 1996-2002", the levels of E.coli that exceeded 2002 Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines (for recreation) were derived by comparing site means against the guideline value. However the guideline refers to medians.
The E.coli data has since been corrected using medians and the results are provided in this report.