Morphum Environmental adopts Addington Brook
Since 2024, local consultancy firm and Community Waterways Partnership member Morphum Environmental has been voluntarily supporting the restoration of Addington Brook.
Morphum Environmental has joined the Community Waterways Partnership and adopted Addington Brook, a small urban stream that flows through Hagley Park and into the Ōtākaro-Avon River. This stream is in their backyard near their office on Cambridge Terrace in the CBD, and is a space their staff love to visit alongside others in the local community.
Morphum is an environmental engineering consultancy, driven to create positive environmental change through engineering, science, sustainability, and geospatial services.
Addington Brook is considered one of Christchurch’s most polluted streams, with its upper catchment piped through industrial areas and affected by urban stormwater contaminants.
Morphum’s work provides meaningful support to the Christchurch City Council’s current project to naturalise the length of the waterway through Hagley Park, which provides valuable habitat for native fauna.
Each quarter, the Morphum team visits the stream to check its condition, collect rubbish, and record simple ecological observations. This helps reduce the amount of litter entering downstream environments and provides useful on-the-ground information about the ecosystem and waterway as the Council continues stream naturalisation.
During their most recent visit, they retrieved a full sack of rubbish, mostly consisting of single-use plastic items. Several native fish species, including toitoi (common bullies), īnanga, and tuna (shortfin eel), were sighted and recorded.
The presence of these precious native species emphasises the existing ecological value of this small urban waterway, and that, despite its challenges, ongoing care can support healthy waterways. The high amount of single-use plastic over such a small area is a reminder of how these convenience items last for decades in the environment.
Morphum’s involvement with Addington Brook and the Community Waterways Partnership is a way for them to strengthen their connection to their local waterway and community.