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Story: Water quality

Cows in stream

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Cows in stream

Dung and urine can harm water quality when livestock get near streams. Modern farming has greatly reduced such access, compared with 20 years ago.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PICT-000051

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Mike Scarsbrook and Kit Rutherford, Water quality – Management of water quality, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/15538/cows-in-stream (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Mike Scarsbrook and Kit Rutherford, published 1 March 2009, updated 18 July 2016.