A scientific water quality monitoring buoy due to have been installed on Lake Wanaka last month could be delayed by up to six months due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Otago Regional Council acting manager science Anne Duncan said the company building the specialised buoys could not access its workshop in Waikato due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Also, the ORC was waiting for appropriate mooring designs to keep the buoy safely fixed in its proposed mid-lake site, where it could get very windy and choppy and the lake was very deep, she said.
"This is a complex piece of specialised equipment and it is important that it is safely installed."
The data from the Lake Wanaka buoy would be sent to the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network, a grassroots network of limnologists, ecologists, information technology experts, and engineers.
The ORC was "working to ensure the buoy can be deployed as soon as possible, and we hope within the next six months", Ms Duncan said.
A scientific monitoring buoy was planned for Lake Wakatipu in the future but not Lake Hawea at this stage.
