Slowing The Flow: How Detainment Bunds Support Healthy Waterways (With Laura Simpson, Mangaone West Catchment Group)
-
In times of heavy rainfall, water can rush off farmland, carrying soil, nutrients and contaminants into waterways - and adding pressure downstream.
In this episode, we sit down with Laura Simpson from the Mangaone West Catchment Group to learn how detainment bunds help improve water quality alongside more familiar methods such as fencing off waterways, riparian plantings and wetlands.
Laura explains how understanding your local landscape, soil type, and water quality testing insights is crucial when deciding which tools to use for improving stream health. We also talk about the broader catchment-wide mindset and the importance of working together from source to sea to create resilience in our landscapes.
Ultimately, healthier waterways means healthier farms, ecosystems, and communities.
Detainment bunds are not a silver bullet. But in the right places, they can help slow water, reduce sediment loss, protect wetlands, and keep more soil and nutrients on the land where they belong.
-
What detainment bunds are and how they work.
How detainment bunds can help slow floodwater and reduce sediment loss.
Why soil type and local landscape knowledge matter.
The importance of regular water testing.
How detainment bunds can work alongside wetlands, riparian planting and fencing.
Why reducing sediment upstream benefits waterways further downstream.
The importance of catchment-wide collaboration.
Conservation outcomes and swimmable rivers.
And much more…
-
Laura Simpson is the Mangaone West Catchment Group’s leader, a rural professional, on the Manawatū River Catchment Collective’s committee, and part of the family farming operation. Planting and protecting wetlands on her family farm led to getting involved in the Mangaone West Catchment Group and eventually taking on the leadership role. With a Bachelor of Science in Earth Science, and a Masters in Agricultural Science, Laura understands the importance of data driven decision making for projects within the catchment group.
-
The People Helping Nature podcast is brought to you by Conservation Amplified, a registered New Zealand charity.
We are on a mission to help make conservation mainstream by amplifying the awesome stuff people are doing to help nature all around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Because when people are aware, connected to the ecosystems around them and care enough to take positive action, only then will we see lasting change.
Listen in and follow us to start or deepen your journey.