The Waikato Regional Council (WRC) has statutory environmental monitoring requirements, including commitments arising from the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and State of the Environment reporting. Lakes, large rivers and estuaries pose a challenge for water quality monitoring programs due to their size, number and accessibility. To meet the increasing demand for more comprehensive monitoring to facilitate evidence-based regional policy making, cost-effective monitoring tools capable of capturing multiple attributes at various temporal and spatial scales are desirable.