LAWA (Land Air Water Aotearoa) is a web tool, informed by this MDes project, with the purpose of making scientific information on freshwater available to the public in an easily comprehensible, credible and trustworthy way. The site will be available after March 2014 at lawa.org.nz, and there are are a collection of design screenshots in Appendix II.

LAWA also seeks to educate people about water issues, instigate behavioural change through education, and connect people with their local freshwater environments. LAWA builds on a previous website, LAWNZ (Land and Water New Zealand), which used similar data, but was aimed at a science and policy audience.

The stakeholders / clients in LAWA are regional councils, the Cawthron Institute, Massey University and, more recently, the Ministry for the Environment. LAWA has several operational levels, with representatives from all the stakeholders represented at each level. The designs were discussed and approved at both Steering and Governance groups:

The LAWA governance structure.

See also: Appendix I: LAWNZ website screenshots