Small amounts of nitrogen are a natural component of healthy rivers. Nitrogen is transferred from land to water and is cycled through different forms, which can have different effects. Moderate concentrations of nitrate can cause weeds and algae to grow too fast. High concentrations of ammoniacal and nitrate nitrogen can be toxic to fish and other aquatic animals.
This dataset relates to the "River water quality trends: nitrogen" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.
