Essentially, the project is a crowdfunding platform which supports community groups and landowners’ riparian planting (the planting of the zones between land and waterways) to improve water quality and enhance freshwater biodiversity.

Now in its second year, the project has enjoyed a modest success with $125,000 raised and 6000 metres funded, and with the next six projects due to run their crowd-funding campaigns us over the next three or four months.

To promote the cause further, the group is running a photo competition this Feb-March, with winners announced on World Water Day, March 22 (you’ll see the best photos here on Idealog first).

Here are the deets:

Post your best photo of a Kiwi river, lake, stream, waterfall or wetland to the official Instagram and Facebook before the March 15 and you’re in.  

• For Facebook entries, include the name and location of the waterway photographed, tag it with #MyWaterWayNZ, @Million Metres and set it to ‘public’.

• For Instagram entries, follow millionmetres*, post your photo and tag @millionmetres and #MyWaterWayNZ and include the name and location of the waterway in your photo in the post.

Prizes include a new Canon EOS 100D camera with 2 lenses valued at over $1000, and spot prizes from All Good Organics, ecostore and a bunch more.

Five finalists will be selected and then put to a public vote from March 16 and 22 with the announcement on World Water Day.

For full details, read the T&Cs here.