Lake Karapiro

Lake Karapiro (Karāpiro) is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south-east of the city of Hamilton at Karapiro in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by damming the Waikato River to store water for the 96-megawatt Karapiro hydroelectric power station.[2]

Lake Karapiro
Lake Karapiro
LocationNorth Island
Coordinates37.92856°S 175.544529°E / -37.92856; 175.544529
Lake typereservoir
Primary inflowsWaikato River
Primary outflowsWaikato River
Basin countriesNew Zealand
Max. length11.0 kilometres (6.8 mi)
Max. width0.9 kilometres (0.56 mi)
Surface area7.7 km2 (3.0 sq mi)
Average depth11.0 metres (36.1 ft)
Max. depth30.5 metres (100 ft)
Water volume8.5 cubic kilometres (2.0 cu mi)
Surface elevation50.5–53.5 metres (166–176 ft) [1]

History and etymology

In about 1600, Te Ihingarangi built a pā (fortified village) called Te Tiki o Ihingarangi near where Lake Karapiro is today.[3]

In 1830 Ngāti Hauā defeated Ngāti Maru in a battle at Taumatawīwī, two kilometres south of Karapiro Domain. On the orders of the Ngāti Hauā chief Te Waharoa, his dead warriors were cremated, this taking place on rocks beside the Waikato River, the location then becoming known as Karāpiro, from the Māori language words karā, meaning "basaltic stone", and piro, meaning "foul smelling". The site was flooded when the dam was built and the lake created in 1947.[4][5]

The ten-megawatt Horahora Power Station, 13 km upstream of Karapiro Dam, part of an earlier hydroelectric power scheme, was also flooded with the formation of Lake Karapiro.[6]

Rowing venue

The lake, regarded as one of New Zealand's best rowing venues, hosted the World Rowing Championships in 1978 and 2010, as well as the rowing events for the 1950 British Empire Games. Lake Karapiro alternates with the South Island's Lake Ruataniwha in hosting the New Zealand national rowing championships and the New Zealand secondary school rowing championships (Maadi Cup). Rowers who train on the lake mostly live in nearby Cambridge.

An International Rowing Federation inspection panel visited Lake Karapiro in March 2006 and said in its report that it was one of the fairest courses in the world they had seen and that the lake was one of the most picturesque in the world.[7]

The lake hosted the 2010 Rowing World Championships.[8] The purpose-built Sir Don Rowlands Centre was completed in June 2010, prior to the event.[9]

Sir Don Rowlands Centre

Hydroelectric power

The 96-megawatt Karapiro Power Station is located adjacent to the dam at the head of the lake, and is the eighth and last hydroelectric power station located on the Waikato River. Water for the power station up to 362 cubic metres per second (12,800 cu ft/s) at full power, is taken from the lake and passed through three Kaplan turbines in the powerhouse, before being deposited into the lower Waikato River. Each turbine turns a 32 MW generator, and the electricity from the generators is fed into Transpower's national transmission grid. The station is a base load generator due to its need to maintain water flows into the Waikato River system beyond the lake.

Lake Karapiro from the Sir Don Rowlands Centre

References
  1. "Lake Levels". Mighty River Power.
  2. Lowe, D.J., Green, J.D. (1987). Viner, A.B. (ed.). Inland waters of New Zealand. Wellington: DSIR Science Information Publishing Centre. pp. 471–474. ISBN 0-477-06799-9.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "Archaeology". Cambridge Museum. Cambridge Historical Society. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  4. "Lake Karapiro - roadside stories". NZHistory. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  5. Gullery, Lawrence (6 February 2021). "Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: The desecration at Lake Karāpiro". Stuff. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  6. Martin, John E. (1991). People, politics and power stations : electric power generation in New Zealand, 1880–1990. ISBN 0-908912-16-1.
  7. "NZ to host 2010 world rowing champs". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 8 June 2006. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  8. "2010 World Rowing Championships". World Rowing. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  9. "Lake Karapiro: Official Opening of the Don Rowlands Centre". Governor-General of New Zealand. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.