On 16 May 2025, the first ever marae-based water science laboratory was established at Winiata Marae in Taihape, a rural town of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The opening of the Ki Tua (looking ahead) water science laboratorywas led by Te Kawanga Whare, a dawn blessing ceremony, acknowledging the world of science and mātauranga Māori (knowledge). This research first began when our hapū, Ngāti Hinemanu me Ngāti Paki, reached out to Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland for support in testing local awa (water bodies) quality. This includes the Rangitīkei, Hautapu and Mangaone rivers, a taonga to our hapū.
Downer NZ generously offered to donate and transport a prefabricated portacom building to be used as a permanent testing and learning laboratory at Winiata Marae – an accessible learning space not only for researchers, but for local schools and communities, too. Funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Unlocking Curious Minds Grant in 2023 allowed the hapū and university to support the development of the laboratory, and supply educational materials.
Background
Taihape hapū were already aware of the degradation of the local wai (water) over the past 100–200 years, before Western-based water science methods quantified poor water quality. This was understood through wānanga and interviews with local kaumātua and elders, who described their lived memories of the freshwater fisheries (ika) once harvested. Freshwater tuna, kōura and pātiki were once highly abundant in the local awa; however, they were no longer found due to the poor wai quality.
Mātauranga was important to understanding the history of the awa, the steady decline of ika, and how the hauora of the wai could be improved. Ngāti Hinemanu me Ngāti Paki hapū had also worked alongside Horizons Regional Council to determine the factors impacting the water quality in the area – these were sewage contamination (including animal and human waste), fertilisers, low water levels, water diversions (due to private dams) and a lack of effective wastewater treatment infrastructure.
With Winiata Marae downstream of the Taihape town and the local wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), sewage overflows in high storm water flows were contaminating the local Hautapu awa, and downstream Rangitikei. This was primarily due to aging infrastructure, and the increased frequency and magnitude of stormwater events. Fortunately, the WWTP pump station and detention tank storage system was upgraded in 2023 due to pressure from the local communities.
These investigations sparked the interest in regular water quality monitoring for the Rangitikei Region, to ensure any contamination could be picked up and dealt with straight away to protect our taiao and, in turn, the hauora of whānau, hapū and iwi. By partnering with Waipapa Taumata Rau, and the faculties of Science and Engineering, and Design, our hapū bypassed the traditional or ‘normal’ route of sending water samples to a company for testing. This is costly, and no knowledge or Mātauranga is gained in the community impacted by poor wai hauora or water health.
Our hapū and Taihape community wanted to be kaitiaki of their local waterways and environment. This meant learning new skills and gaining direct access to the latest monitoring technologies and management practices. This also created the opportunity to bring our local rangatahi (youth) together to learn new STEM skills and inspire future pathways in STEM, as well as anyone else who wanted to learn to be a kaitiaki. It was important that this project was a partnership rather than a sole Western science approach, meaning that Mātauranga of the hapū was essential and was woven throughout the rangahau.
Rangatahi were first brought to Tāmaki Makaurau to learn about the current water quality testing techniques in the state-of-the-art water and environmental engineering laboratories at The University of Auckland. Rangatahi were able to bring local water samples they had collected to practice testing techniques on, including the concentration measurement of total coliforms and E. coli, as well as phosphate (PO43-), nitrate and nitrite concentrations. All essential techniques for determining whether harmful contaminants, including sewage and fertilisers, were present in water. With these newly learnt skills, a mobile water quality laboratory was considered to enable the continuation of learning and create a focus for further conversations in the local Taihape region.
Currently, the water quality laboratory is fitted with the instruments and consumables required for coliform and E. coli testing, with plans to include testing for phosphates, nitrates and nitrites. Rangatahi, pakeke and kaumatua have been taught these techniques, meaning they no longer have to wait for the educators at The University of Auckland to find time to travel down to Taihape (a five-hour drive).
The opening of the wai lab at Winiata Marae was not the beginning of this rangahau, but rather the end of the beginning of this journey to better water quality in the Rangitikei region. This rangahau has been years in the making, which relied on understanding the past 100–200 years of whenua and wai use in the Rangitikei, and then the education of Western water science testing methods.
When deciding what testing methods to educate and then include in the water science lab, the rangahau team wanted to ensure the testing available in the lab was easy to conduct, easy to interpret, and didn’t require toxic or dangerous substances.
The initial challenges in this research have been location‑based, with the ongoing organisation of a lab (alongside the marae) from Tāmaki Makaurau. This has also meant picking up all of the lab equipment from Auckland and driving five hours to Taihape, hoping we haven’t left anything behind. At first, we were worried about making water testing interesting and exciting to our hapū of all ages, and especially cool for rangatahi. However, very early on, rangatahi became interested in our water testing (pre‑lab), when we tested water from the marae spring water, which feeds the drinking water for the marae. The testing found that the spring water (thought to be pristine) was contaminated from farm surface water run-off, but no-one was getting sick. This was because one of the kaumatua on the marae was quietly dosing the water tank (using ‘Pour n’ Go’ from Mitre 10) just in case. This project was a massive turning point, which allowed the marae, tauira and community to immediately understand the importance of water quality testing.
This rangahau allowed many whānau to return home to the marae for wānanga with renewed purpose (rather than for tangihanga alone), including my mum and me. With a lack of jobs in rural areas, many of our whānau have had to move away for work and into the urban cities. Reconnections have been made through this rangahau, and the lab’s establishment has created another reason to return home and take pride in our marae. This includes myself, as I know how I can better contribute to our whānau and marae through STEM education in our new lab.
The lab represents hope, as we work towards increasing the water quality in Rangitikei and strengthening the reconnection with our whānau and taiao. As we know, if our taiao is healthy, we as people will be healthy. This lab has brought excitement to the rural region of Rangitikei and sparked an interest in STEM among the locals of all ages, as no-one is too old to learn. No-one is going to care more about the health of the environment than the locals living on the whenua, and this has been apparent on this journey.