The Ōtakaro-Avon and Ōpāwaho-Heathcote in Christchurch are some of the most polluted in the region.
While the Avon has received a lot of attention since the Canterbury Earthquakes with $100 million going into a new promenade and cleaning up its water quality, it's a different story for the Heathcote River where raw sewage and industrial chemicals are still regularly found.
Niva Chittock reports.