Drill once.
Drill right.

We map what's beneath your land before a single metre is drilled - locating sustainable aquifers, what depth they are at, and the flow you can expect. Map once, then drill with confidence.

Request a free assessment See how it works
10,000+
Wells sited globally
200,000+
Survey points run
87%
Global success rate
20+
Years mapping aquifers

Just 5% of field survey points are premium sustainable drilling sites

We remove the guesswork and save thousands on wasted drilling costs

CASE STUDY · WATCH

Watch how we found a sustainable aquifer

Press play to watch the Katikati kiwifruit case study - They spent several thousand dollars to drill a dry hole at 300m before talking to us. After we surveyed the orchard we found a spot producing a yield of 30,000 litres an hour at 160m.

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Rotating 3D aquifer probability profile
What lies beneath

Aquifers behave like rivers but until now you can't see them

Aquifers are ancient, complex subsurface structures that let water flow at its own rate — more like creeks and rivers than lakes or pools. They're often stacked one on top of another, separated by confining layers of clay, and they interconnect through fractures and fault lines.

The trick is knowing where the boundaries are, where the fractures run, and how each aquifer is actually operating — so a new well can produce good, sustainable water that can recharge.

✓Where to drill — locate aquifer boundaries and preferred targets.
✓How deep — the depth you need to reach, point by point.
✓What it yields — expected, sustainable flow rates.
✓Permit-ready science — evidence for RMA water consents.
It's not just finding water

Finding water that lasts.

A priority drill site needs two things: solid aquifer connections beneath it — often more than one — and a path to a reservoir large enough to keep recharging as you pump. Out of every field point we survey, only about 6% clear that bar. Finding them is the whole job.

Strong aquifer connections

A priority point sits above one — often several — well-connected aquifers, not an isolated pocket.

A reservoir that recharges

Real, ongoing supply means a flow path to a reservoir big enough to refill what you pump out.

Miss it by metres

Drill the wrong nearby point and you can miss the aquifer entirely — and end up with a dry well.

Examples

Proven in the ground — councils, orchards and industry.

HORTICULTURE Iron‑free deep aquifer

Waikato hydroponic berry farm

A former Waikato dairy farm, now a hydroponic berry operation, was stuck with a heavily iron‑contaminated well. We mapped the property and found a deeper, cleaner formation — giving the glasshouses a better‑quality, more reliable water supply.

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COUNCILS Saline boundary delineated

Mapping saline intrusion to protect a coastal aquifer

A coastal irrigation aquifer was being invaded by seawater, driven by heavy groundwater extraction near the ocean. For Environment Bay of Plenty, Aquifer Mapping surveyed between the site's wells to delineate the saline‑intrusion boundary — giving the client the data to model smarter extraction and slow the ingress.

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HORTICULTURE 8,000 L/hour on one solar panel

Finding the fracture in Pāpā country, Whangārā

On the East Coast near Whangārā, a farm sat on Pāpā (mudstone) — a beautiful aquifer that only gives up its water through fractures. We mapped the farm, drilled beside the client's spring‑fed dam, and at 22 m dropped into a fracture now delivering 8,000 litres an hour from a single solar panel.

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COUNCILS Aquifer pathways mapped

Havelock North’s 2016 water crisis: mapping the aquifer beneath

After Havelock North's 2016 drinking‑water contamination event, we surveyed the area around the Brookfield Road production wells and mapped the aquifers inside the hill — revealing how the shallow systems interconnect and feed the bores, and showing the deeper formations sitting beneath them.

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COUNCILS 25 m³/hour — enough for the town

Securing the town water supply at Te Kaha

Te Kaha, on the East Coast, is a tough area to find water — and its town supply kept running dry in summer. For Ōpōtiki District Council we surveyed the roads and surrounding land and found a source right beside the existing treatment station, now producing about 25 m³/hour: enough to run the town.

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HORTICULTURE 250 m drilled — dry

The 250‑metre dry hole that mapping would have flagged

West of Waipawa, a landowner did his homework with free GNS lithology and fault maps, took advice, and drilled to 250 m — and hit nothing. He called us to check whether a little deeper would have found water. Our survey confirmed the hard truth: there was essentially nothing under the site. A dry hole a survey would have flagged before a drill rig ever arrived.

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HORTICULTURE 30,000 L/hr

Katikati Orchard

After a 300m dry hole cost ~$200k, we found an aquifer at 160m producing 30,000 L/hr in a tough area.

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DAIRY

Southland Gusher

A 280 ha South Island dairy conversion milking ~600 cows had two existing wells that couldn't keep up over summer. We surveyed the boundary and interior, built a 3D model to map the fracture systems, and identified two strong drilling targets — a high-resolution site set back from the river for clean permitting, plus a backup near the pine trees for future supply. The first hole came in artesian, delivering a reliable supply of good-quality water. New well only 60m away from their existing poor performing well.

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DAIRY 268 soundings · 300 m deep

Owl Farm: a whole‑farm subsurface investigation

At Owl Farm, a demonstration dairy farm near Cambridge run with St Peter's School and Lincoln University - we ran a full 3D subsurface survey: 268 sounding points processed to 300 m. It mapped the farm's aquifers, river and wetland interactions, nitrate‑leaching risk, peat beds and riverbank stability, all validated against an existing well log.

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DEVELOPMENTS 4–5 L/s — double their planned site

Four aquifers under the New Zealand Fieldays site

At the New Zealand Fieldays site in the Waikato, beside the Waikato River, we surveyed 52 ha to 300 m and mapped four distinct aquifers with volume estimates for each. The owners' planned bore location would have yielded 2–3 L/s — but our recommended site nearby offered 4–5 L/s, and we backed it with the flow evidence for their permit.

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COUNCILS 30,000 L/hr

Tenterfield Council – drought stopper

The town of Tenterfield, NSW was 80 days from running dry after a four‑year drought — and eight council‑drilled wells had all failed. An Aquifer Mapping survey traced the area's groundwater to buried palaeochannels, and wells targeted into them delivered 30 m³/hour, averting the crisis.

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“
The Aquifer Mapping well yielded excellent quality water at flow rates greater than other bores in the area. It is an investment that should be completed prior to drilling the first well in future.
— LARGE-SCALE ORCHARD OPERATION · BAY OF PLENTY
“Cost is forgotten when you have an excellent water supply.”
Contact us

Let's talk about your water project.

Send us your property maps for a zero-obligation recommendation and quote. Contact us anytime for a free discussion and costing.

Contact
John McKendry — 021 629 129
Email
info@aquifermapping.co.nz
Location
12/72 Aerodrome Road, Matawhero
Gisborne, New Zealand
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