About me

My name is Scottie Lyon director of Northland Freshwater Data, I established this company in 2023 following a career working in local government. Specifically working in compliance monitoring for discharges to water, and in state of the environment monitoring. These roles gave me experience in all aspects of water quality monitoring work, but particularly in dealing with instruments used for discrete and continuous water quality monitoring. Having established, for Northland Regional Council, large networks of continuous monitoring sites in rivers, lakes and coastal waters, and the quality systems that stand behind them, I felt ready to strike out into my own business.

I feel that the recent leap forward in the technology of water quality instruments has open opportunity to better understand how aquatic and marine systems work by allowing the collection of large quantity's of high quality data. Additionally, the availability of affordable telemetery systems means that you really can have your finger on the pulse in near real time, enabling reactive decision making, and improving environmental outcomes in compliance situations in particular.

A mountain of data is no use if it cannot be interpreted into useful information. I strive in my reporting and verbal communication with clients to use language that leaves nobody behind and to make sure that the big picture remains in focus. Aquatic and coastal marine environments are under pressure, and require good management to hold back the deterioration we have seen in recent times, and good management must be based on accurate, trustworthy information.