Frequently Asked Questions

NZ Waves is a community-driven tool designed for recreational water users to help monitor and report potential public health risks in and around local bodies of water.

NZ Waves was created through collaboration with Whiteireia/Weltec and experienced health professional Paula Birnie who championed the development and approach around bringing this concept to life. It has involved input and support from scientists, physicians, researchers, Titahi Bay Resident’s Association, community group Your Bay Your Say and recreational water users, particularly ocean swimmers. However, the real success behind this initiative belongs to the cohorts of students from Whitireia/Weltec Polytechnic who chose this initiative as their capstone project for their undergraduate and in some cases post graduate Bachelor of Information Technology qualifications. Between them they have created, continue to improve and expand the application based on feedback from a small beta group and guidance from dedicated Lecturers and Tutors at Whitirea/WelTec polytechnic.

Seed funding was provided by Paula Birnie for Trademarking and to cover initial data user costs. Additional funding has since been secured from Microsoft, through their Social Impact Investment Programme to cover costs of access to their public cloud computing platform - Azure and Visual Studio, with Power BI housing NZ Waves and aggregate data.

Success for NZ Waves is about creating a digital footprint to capture aggregate data around how communities live, work and play in and around water locations and the impact it has on population and environmental health.

Public health risks are exposures, behaviours or conditions that increase the likelihood of disease, injury, or death across a population. Key areas include infectious diseases, (pathogens which spread through communities – e.g. cryptosporidium) chronic conditions (e.g. asthma) environmental hazards (e.g. water pollution) and socio-economic disparities (e.g. health outcomes, life expectancy, housing and living costs)

By participating in this community observation, your aggregate data contributes to a vital early-warning system that helps keep the ocean, freshwater and our communities safe without compromising your personal privacy.

By tracking and comparing current data with historical data and crosschecking it with other research data sets, to provide evidence of trends to enable appropriate interventions (treatment, procedure or action).

A base line indicator is a measurement taken before an intervention (treatment, procedure or action) begins. It is the starting reference point. Examples of base line indicators used in this observation include age, ethnicity, gender, weather, colour of the water, smell, status (ratepayer, resident, visitor, other) etc.

Bias in data sets: If communities only provide data when they become unwell, this provides skewed data and does not capture evolving/emerging trends or risks in real time. Datasets are often cross checked against other comparable data across time periods, to establish variants and consistencies around base line indicators, to help identify cause and effect of illness and wellness. Critical insights gathered during times of wellness can indicate small incremental changes that can lead to illness over an extended period of time.

Preparedness and Early Warning: Active communities act as the first line of defence, enabling rapid detection and reporting of emerging anomalies before they become widespread.

Trust and Cohesion: Strong social ties allow for transparent two-way risk communication. When trusted community leaders are involved, local public health guidance is much better received.

Resource and Barrier Identification: Localised participation helps map community capabilities, identify vulnerable populations, and reveal social barriers to care, well before an emergency occurs.

Documented data impacts change: Engaging communities in participation helps influence positive change by providing tangible evidence of lived experience. Data captured in an observation provides invaluable insights to help build a systemic picture around incremental changes acting as a living time capsule. This evidence empowers communities to support changes in legislation, policy and /or process reflecting the needs and values of localised populations. It also helps with the co-design of resources and planning ahead of time.

Citizen Science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research. People share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programmes. Citizen science is open to everyone of all ages.

Citizen Science helps by expanding the scale and speed of research. Volunteers in communities act as a distributive workforce turning observations, lived experience and incremental changes into active evidence-based data. It enables real time crisis tracking as well as historical data records for comparable research.

Success for NZ Waves is about creating a digital footprint to capture aggregate data around how communities live, work and play in and around water locations and the impact it has on population and environmental health.

Providing accessible aggregate data around recreational water users enables greater insights into understanding illness and the burden of disease associated with activities in different locations.

The colour of water is a crucial diagnostic indicator of water quality and ecosystem health. While pure water is naturally transparent with a slight blue tint, a shift in colour signals the presence of dissolved or suspended matter such as algae, pollution or sediment. Nutrient rich fertilisers from agricultural run-off can impact nitrates in the water. Sewage contaminates water by introducing harmful pathogens, toxic chemicals and excess nutrients. This degrades water quality, triggering dangerous algal blooms, severely depletes dissolved oxygen levels and creates hypoxic “dead zones” where aquatic life cannot survive.

Environmental smells are indicators for the presence of specific chemical compounds, acting as critical warning signs for hazards, structural failures or natural biological processes. For example, the smell of rotten eggs (or sulphur) can indicate a gas leak or a build up of hydrogen sulphide from toxic algae.

This feature enables anyone to complete an observation report about their own recreational activity, or about another person or animal. For example if you go swimming in the ocean with a child and a dog, you can add separate entries for an adult, child and dog. If several days later the adult, child or dog becomes unwell , you can add a new entry which will lead you to additional questions about illness.

Ratepayer: Household owner where data is captured in home area

Resident: Rents in the area (applies also to children of household owners)

Visitor: Adult/child visiting a location outside of your local suburb or area

Other: this applies to all animals or pets.

This information is helpful from a strategic perspective. If local authorities need to make important financial decisions and choices around maintenance and repair of local facilities and infrastructure, understanding how often communities and visitors interact with different facilities can influence how these are prioritised. The same information can enable ratepayers and residents to have their say too.

Not everyone will engage the services of a doctor or a vet if they or their pet, or a wild animal becomes unwell.

Reasons for this include, increased costs, lack of transport, and lengthy waits for appointments with some Medical Practices unable to take on new patients.

It is important to recognise that many people within the community when unwell are also unlikely to seek medical advice unless symptoms persist or get worse. The observation seeks to capture some of this data.

Communicable disease is an illness caused by pathogens (bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi). They spread from one person, animal or surface to another.

Some communicable diseases (but not all) are specifically designated by law (under the Health Act 1956 in NZ) as a Notifiable Disease. This is because they pose a significant threat to public health and require immediate tracking to prevent outbreaks. A notifiable disease must be reported to health authorities by healthcare professionals and laboratories.

For Notifiable Diseases in animals the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) are the primary authority. However, reporting obligations and outbreak management are shared amongst several entities (Livestock owners & Farmers, Veterinarians, MPI and at a global level World Organisation for Animal Health).

Report a Sewage/Wastewater discharge: If you see and/or smell a sewage/wastewater discharge - you can contact Tiaki Wai on 0800 842 549, they are available 24/7.

For more information or to report an issue, visit Tiaki Wai: Report an issue