Coastal Water QualityKounga Wai Taha Moana

About the HAWQi monitoring buoy

A coastal water quality monitoring buoy known as HAWQi (Hawke’s Bay Water Quality Information) is located off the coast of Whirinaki, north of Napier. This buoy collects data about water temperature, salinity, clarity and weather information in the nearshore marine environment.  You can find all this data below.

​The estuaries and coastal nearshore waters of the Hawke’s Bay region are natural habitats for marine creatures and also popular recreation and commercial areas. Estuaries and nearshore zones however also receive the impacts of nearly all land-based activity, and are susceptible to a number of water quality issues, such as algal blooms. The rivers can at times deliver pollutants and sediments to the marine environment. The Regional Council also monitors water quality at 11 nearshore sites and 8 estuaries.

For coastal water quality results please go to our Swimming page which shows summer recreational water quality and coastal SOE reports.

In this video you can see the HAWQi buoy being inspected.

How to use the data

You can check all the data the buoy collects here.

The charts below show data for wind speed, wind temperature, and wind direction.

You can toggle between the table, map and chart to find the data you need. In the chart, use the drop down boxes to toggle between data for wind speed, wind temperature, and wind direction and select the period you are looking for.