All Topics  
Waikato River

 
Waikato River

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Waikato River



 
 
The Waikato River is the longest river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
 in New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. In the North Island
North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. The island is 113,729 square km in area, making it the List of islands by area....
, it runs for 425 kilometre
Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
s from the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu
Mount Ruapehu

Mount Ruapehu, or just Ruapehu, is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. It is 23 kilometres northeast of Ohakune and 40 kilometres southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupo, within Tongariro National Park....
, joining the Tongariro River
Tongariro River

The Tongariro River is a river in the North Island of New Zealand. It originates in the Central Plateau of the North Island where it is fed by numerous tributary that flow off the surrounding hill ranges and mountains such as Mount Ruapehu ....
 system and emptying into Lake Taupo
Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is a lake situated in the North Island of New Zealand. It has a perimeter of approximately 193 kilometres, a deepest point of 186 metres and a surface area of 616 square kilometres....
, New Zealand's largest lake
Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
. It drains Taupo at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the Huka Falls
Huka Falls

The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupo in New Zealand.A few hundred metres upstream from the Huka Falls, the Waikato River narrows from roughly 100 metres across into a narrow canyon only 15 metres across....
, then flows northwest
Cardinal direction

The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are north, south, east, and west, commonly denoted by their initials - N, S, E, W. They are mostly used for geography orientation on Earth but may be calculated anywhere on a rotating astronomical object....
, through the Waikato Plains
Waikato Plains

The Waikato Plains are a large area of low-lying land in the northwest of the North Island of New Zealand. The plains are the floodplains of the country's longest river, the Waikato River....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Waikato River'
Start a new discussion about 'Waikato River'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts









Encyclopedia


Nz Waikato R
The Waikato River is the longest river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
 in New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. In the North Island
North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. The island is 113,729 square km in area, making it the List of islands by area....
, it runs for 425 kilometre
Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
s from the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu
Mount Ruapehu

Mount Ruapehu, or just Ruapehu, is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. It is 23 kilometres northeast of Ohakune and 40 kilometres southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupo, within Tongariro National Park....
, joining the Tongariro River
Tongariro River

The Tongariro River is a river in the North Island of New Zealand. It originates in the Central Plateau of the North Island where it is fed by numerous tributary that flow off the surrounding hill ranges and mountains such as Mount Ruapehu ....
 system and emptying into Lake Taupo
Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is a lake situated in the North Island of New Zealand. It has a perimeter of approximately 193 kilometres, a deepest point of 186 metres and a surface area of 616 square kilometres....
, New Zealand's largest lake
Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
. It drains Taupo at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the Huka Falls
Huka Falls

The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupo in New Zealand.A few hundred metres upstream from the Huka Falls, the Waikato River narrows from roughly 100 metres across into a narrow canyon only 15 metres across....
, then flows northwest
Cardinal direction

The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are north, south, east, and west, commonly denoted by their initials - N, S, E, W. They are mostly used for geography orientation on Earth but may be calculated anywhere on a rotating astronomical object....
, through the Waikato Plains
Waikato Plains

The Waikato Plains are a large area of low-lying land in the northwest of the North Island of New Zealand. The plains are the floodplains of the country's longest river, the Waikato River....
. It empties into the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately 2000 kilometres across. It extends 2800 km from north to south....
 south of Auckland
Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
 at Port Waikato
Port Waikato

Port Waikato is on the south bank of the Waikato River at its outflow into the Tasman Sea, in northern New Zealand. Now a small town with a population of under 300, it was an important port during the New Zealand Land Wars of the 19th century....
. It gives its name to the Waikato
Waikato

Waikato is the name of a region in the North Island of New Zealand. Exact boundaries of the region depend largely on the use of the name, but in all cases it refers to an area around the city of Hamilton, New Zealand and extending along the banks of the Waikato River....
 region that surrounds the Waikato Plains.

The river's main tributary is the Waipa River
Waipa River

The Waipa River is in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. The headwaters are in the Rangitoto Range east of Te Kuiti. It flows north for 115 kilometres, passing through Otorohanga, New Zealand and Pirongia, before flowing into the Waikato River at Ngaruawahia....
, which has its confluence with the Waikato at Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

Ngaruawahia is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.The meaning of the town's name is open the food pits, which comes from a feast held hundreds of years ago to celebrate the coming together of two tribes through a marriage....
.

The name Waikato comes from Maori
Maori language

Maori or te reo Maori, also commonly shortened to te reo , functions as one of the official languages of New Zealand. Linguists classify it within the Eastern Polynesian languages as closely related to Cook Islands Maori, Tuamotuan language and Tahitian language; somewhat less closely to Hawaiian language and Marquesan language; a...
 and translates as flowing water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
.

The Waikato River has spiritual
Spiritual

Spiritual may refer to:*Spirituality, a concern with matters of the spirit*Spiritual , an African American song, usually with a Christian religious text...
 meaning for various local Maori
Maori

The Maori are the indigenous people Polynesian people of Aotearoa . The group probably arrived in south-western Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300....
 tribe
Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups ....
s including the large Tainui
Tainui

Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Maori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Maori iwi of the central North island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Raukawa and Waikato....
, who regard it as a source of their mana
Mana

Mana is the concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The concept is common to many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian languages, Polynesian languages, and Micronesian languages....
 or pride. The widely-respected marae
Marae

A marae malae , malae , is a sacred place which served both religious and social purposes in pre-Christian Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the word also means "cleared, free of weeds, trees, etc." It generally consists of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular , bordered with stones or wooden posts perhaps w...
 of Turangawaewae
Turangawaewae

Turangawaewae Marae is a very significant marae of the Maori people of New Zealand and is the headquarters for the Maori King Movement . Located in the town of Ngaruawahia in the Waikato region of the North Island, it is the official residence and reception centre of the head of the Kingitanga ....
 is close to its banks at Ngaruawahia.

For many years Tainui tribe have sought to re-establish their links to the river after the New Zealand land wars
New Zealand land wars

The New Zealand Wars, sometimes called the Land Wars and also once called the Maori Wars, were a series of armed conflicts that took place in New Zealand between 1845 and 1872....
 (see Invasion of Waikato) and the subsequent illegal confiscations of the 1860s, and are continuing negotiations with the current New Zealand government.

Course

The river starts as many small streams on the eastern side of Mount Ruapehu. The Mangatoetoenui Glacier (once called the Waikato glacier) is one of the principal sources. The southernmost tributary is called the Upper Waikato Stream. The Waipakihi River joins the Waikato from the Kaimanawa Mountains to the west. At the point the river meets the Waihohonu Stream, it becomes called the Tongariro River. The Pouto River joins from Lake Rotoaira
Lake Rotoaira

Lake Rotoaira is a small lake to the south of Lake Taupo on the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand. It covers an area of 13 km?.Lake Rotoaira is one of the few privately owned lakes in New Zealand being administered by the Lake Rotoaira Trust on behalf of its owners....
 to the east. The Tongariro flows northward, with State Highway 1 in parallel, through the town of Turangi
Turangi

Turangi is a small town on the west bank of the Tongariro River, 50 kilometres south-west of Taupo on the North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand State Highway network....
, and into the southern side of Lake Taupo. Extensive engineering of lakes, tunnels and canals are used to generate hydroelectric power in the Tongariro Power scheme.

At the northeast point of Lake Taupo is Tapuaeharuru Bay and the town of Taupo
Taupo

Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the seat of the Taupo District Council and lies in the southern Waikato....
. The Waikato River leaves the lake and flows northeast past the town, alongside State Highway 1, to the Huka Falls
Huka Falls

The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupo in New Zealand.A few hundred metres upstream from the Huka Falls, the Waikato River narrows from roughly 100 metres across into a narrow canyon only 15 metres across....
. State Highway 5
New Zealand State Highway 5

State Highway 5 is the second shortest of New Zealand's eight New Zealand State Highway network. It extends from State Highway 1 at Tirau, on the plains of the Waikato River to State Highway 2 close to the Hawke Bay coast at Bay View, New Zealand, 10 km north of Napier, New Zealand....
 runs more or less parallel to the river as it flows further northeast. About 40 km from the lake, the river flows west and into the southern end of Lake Ohakuri
Lake Ohakuri

Lake Ohakuri, at 12 km?, is the largest artificial lake of the Waikato river system in New Zealand. It was created through the building of the Ohakuri in 1961....
. It exits from the northwest end of that lake and flows west through the small Lake Atiamuri and into the long east-west oriented Lake Whakamaru, with State Highway 30
New Zealand State Highway 30

State Highway 30 is a New Zealand New Zealand State Highway network, linking the Waikato and Bay of Plenty towns of Te Kuiti, Mangakino, Rotorua, and Whakatane....
 following its course. It passes northwest through Lake Maraetai
Lake Maraetai

Lake Maraetai is one of several artificial lakes formed as part of a hydroelectricity scheme on the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand....
 and Lake Waipapa, where it is joined by the Waipapa River, then north through Lake Arapuni
Lake Arapuni

Lake Arapuni is one of several Reservoir formed as part of a hydroelectricity scheme on the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 65 kilometres southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, to the north of Mangakino....
 and into Lake Karapiro
Lake Karapiro

Lake Karapiro is an artificial lake formed as part of a hydroelectricity scheme on the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 35 kilometres southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, close to the town of Cambridge, New Zealand....
. Pokaiwhenua Stream joins the river in Lake Karapiro. Many hydroelectric power stations extract energy from the river between Taupo and Karapiro. All the lakes in this stretch of the river (apart from Lake Taupo) are artificial.

Northwest of Lake Karapiro, the river forms the Waikato Basin, flowing through the towns of Cambridge
Cambridge, New Zealand

Cambridge is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. Situated 24 kilometres southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waikato River, Cambridge is known as "The Town of Trees"....
, Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand

Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authorities of New Zealand....
, and Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

Ngaruawahia is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.The meaning of the town's name is open the food pits, which comes from a feast held hundreds of years ago to celebrate the coming together of two tribes through a marriage....
. It is joined by its largest tributary, the Waipa River
Waipa River

The Waipa River is in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. The headwaters are in the Rangitoto Range east of Te Kuiti. It flows north for 115 kilometres, passing through Otorohanga, New Zealand and Pirongia, before flowing into the Waikato River at Ngaruawahia....
, at Ngaruawahia. It then flows north through the Taupiri Gorge to enter the lower Waikato region. Further north is Huntly
Huntly, New Zealand

Huntly is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is on New Zealand State Highway 1, 93 kilometres south of Auckland, New Zealand and 35 kilometres north of Hamilton, New Zealand....
 and then Meremere
Meremere

Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton, New Zealand....
, where the Whangamarino and Maramarua Rivers join it. From Mercer, where the Mangatawhiri River joins it, the Waikato flows west and southwest. Just before its mouth at Port Waikato
Port Waikato

Port Waikato is on the south bank of the Waikato River at its outflow into the Tasman Sea, in northern New Zealand. Now a small town with a population of under 300, it was an important port during the New Zealand Land Wars of the 19th century....
, the Araroa River joins from the north.

Uses of the river

As well as being a water and recreation
Recreation

Recreation or fun is the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. While leisure is more likely a form of entertainment or rest, recreation is active for the participant but in a refreshing and diverting manner....
 resource, the river has long been a critical communications and transport link for the communities along it. Taupo
Taupo

Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the seat of the Taupo District Council and lies in the southern Waikato....
, Mangakino
Mangakino

Mangakino is a small town on the banks of the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located close to the hydroelectricity power station at Lake Maraetai, southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand....
, Cambridge
Cambridge, New Zealand

Cambridge is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. Situated 24 kilometres southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waikato River, Cambridge is known as "The Town of Trees"....
, Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand

Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authorities of New Zealand....
, Horotiu, Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

Ngaruawahia is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.The meaning of the town's name is open the food pits, which comes from a feast held hundreds of years ago to celebrate the coming together of two tribes through a marriage....
, Huntly
Huntly, New Zealand

Huntly is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is on New Zealand State Highway 1, 93 kilometres south of Auckland, New Zealand and 35 kilometres north of Hamilton, New Zealand....
, Hampton Downs
Hampton Downs

Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is currently under construction in North Waikato , New Zealand. When complete, the track will consist of two independent circuits that can also be combined to form one large circuit....
, Meremere
Meremere

Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton, New Zealand....
, Waiuku
Waiuku

Waiuku is a country town in the Franklin , New Zealand, in the North Island of New Zealand.The town is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River which is an estuary arm of the Manukau Harbour....
 and Port Waikato are on or close to it.

The river was of military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 significance in the land wars between British
British Army

The British Army is the Army branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707....
 and Maori soldiers around 1863, and significant battle
Battle

Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, wherein each group will seek to defeat the others within the scope of a military campaign, and are well defined in duration, area and force commitment....
s were fought at points including Rangiriri. A cemetery
Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which death body and cremation are burial. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground....
 containing the grave
Grave

Grave may refer to:*Grave *Grave accent*Grave *Tempo#Basic_tempo_markings*Grave, NetherlandsGrave might also refer to:*Peter Graves, an American film and television actor known for his starring role in the television series...
s of the British military dead can be found there opposite the hotel
Hotel

----A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including Bathroom#Types of bathroomss and air conditioning or clima...
, shop
Shop

Shop may refer to:*A Retailing*An online shop*A workshop*A machine shop*A paint shop* To shop - to go to a store or stores to buy goods*"Shop class", an industrial arts educational program...
s and cafe
Café

A caf? or coffee shop is an informal restaurant offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. This differs from a coffee house, which is a limited-menu establishment which focuses on coffee sales....
.

A ferry
Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
 service along part of its length was for years conducted by Cesar Roose, several of whose descendants still live beside it.

Electricity generation

The Waikato's first hydro-electric power station
Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the Electricity generation of electric power.Power plant is also used to refer to the engine in ships, aircraft and other large vehicles....
 was the Horahora Power Station
Horahora Power Station

Horahora Power Station was an early hydro-electric power station in Waikato , New Zealand. It was the country?s first large-scale power station, completed in 1913....
, now located under the deep beneath the surface of Lake Karapiro
Karapiro

Karapiro was a New Zealand Parliamentary New Zealand electorates from 1996 to 2002.It was in the Waikato, and was a rural and safe National seat, held by John Luxton and then Lindsay Tisch....
. Horahora was built to supply electricity
Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
 for the Martha gold mines at Waihi
Waihi

Waihi is a town in Hauraki District in the North Island of New Zealand, especially notable for its history as a gold mine town. It had a population of 4,524 at the 2001 census....
.

The river has a series of eight hydroelectric power stations that generate electricity for the national grid. Between 1929 and 1971, eight dam
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
s and nine powerhouses were built to meet growing demand for electricity.

The power scheme begins at Lake Taupo, which has control gates to regulate the flow of water into the river. Once released through the gates it takes nearly 18 hour
Hour

The hour is a unit of time. It is not an SI unit but is Non-SI units accepted for use with SI....
s for the water to flow to the Tasman Sea. On its journey downstream it passes through power stations at Aratiatia
Aratiatia

Aratiatia is a power station on the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand....
, Ohakuri
Ohakuri

Ohakuri is a dam and hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, central North Island, New Zealand, midway between Taupo, Rotorua and Hamilton, New Zealand....
, Atiamuri
Atiamuri

Atiamuri is a former Hydro village in the central North Island of New Zealand. It lies alongside State Highway One about 45 km north of Taupo. It is bordered by the Waikato River and surrounded by pine plantations....
, Whakamaru
Whakamaru

Whakamaru is a town in the central region of the North Island of New Zealand. The Maori words 'whaka' and 'maru' literally mean to give shelter to, or safeguard....
, Maraetai
Lake Maraetai

Lake Maraetai is one of several artificial lakes formed as part of a hydroelectricity scheme on the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand....
, Waipapa
Waipapa

Waipapa is a small township in the Bay of Islands, of Northland, New Zealand New Zealand. It is around 10 minutes drive from Kerikeri,the nearest 'urban' centre to Waipapa, located on State Highway 10....
, Arapuni
Arapuni

Arapuni is a rural town centre on the Waikato river in the South Waikato District of New Zealand. The population on census night 2006 was 2,145 usual residents, slightly down from 2,163 in 2001 and 2,211 in 1996....
 and Karapiro
Karapiro Power Station

The Karapiro Power Station is a hydroelectric facility at Lake Karapiro on the Waikato River in Waikato, New Zealand. The power station is owned and operated by Mighty River Power Limited....
.

Approximately 4000 gigawatt hours
Watt-hour

The kilowatt hour, also written kilowatt-hour, is a unit of energy.Energy delivered by electric utilities is usually expressed and charged for in kWh....
 (GWh) of electricity is generated annually by the scheme, which is around 13% of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity.

The river also provides cooling water for the coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
/natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
 fired thermal power station
Thermal power station

A thermal power station is a power plant in which the Wiktionary:prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator....
 at Huntly
Huntly power station

The Huntly Power Station is the largest thermal power station in New Zealand and is located in the town of Huntly, New Zealand in the Waikato. It is operated by Genesis Power Limited, a Government-owned corporation, and supplies around 17% of the country's power....
. However, in order to protect aquatic life, conditions are imposed by its resource consent (see Resource Management Act
Resource Management Act

The Resource Management Act is a significant, and at times, controversial Act of Parliament passed in 1991 in New Zealand. The RMA regulates access to natural and physical resources such as land, air and water, with sustainability of these resources being the overriding goal....
), specifying the quantity of water that can be removed by the station along with the maximum temperature of the water when returned to the river (25°C). These conditions mean that on very hot summer days the station cannot operate at maximum capacity, sometimes reducing their total output to 40 megawatts (MW). A new cooling tower
Cooling tower

Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the Wet-bulb temperature or rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the Dry-bulb temperature....
 has been built as part of expansion works at the site, which allows one 250 MW unit to run at full load even during such times.

Recreation


The Waikato is renowned among whitewater
Whitewater

Whitewater is formed in a rapid, when a river's Stream gradient drops enough to disturb its laminar flow and create turbulence, i.e. form a bubbly, or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white....
 kayaking
Kayaking

Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking is generally differentiated from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle....
 enthusiasts, specifically for the Full James rapid located north of Taupo. The Full James was the site of the 1999 World Whitewater Championships, as well as the pre-World event the year before.

Lake Karapiro
Lake Karapiro

Lake Karapiro is an artificial lake formed as part of a hydroelectricity scheme on the Waikato River in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 35 kilometres southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, close to the town of Cambridge, New Zealand....
 (an artificial lake) is regarded as one of New Zealand's best rowing
Sport rowing

Rowing is a sport in which athletes racing against each other on rivers, lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline....
 venues. The World Rowing Championships
World Rowing Championships

The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic Games years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar....
 in 1978 and 2010
2010 World Rowing Championships

The 2010 World Rowing Championships will be held at Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge, New Zealand, New Zealand between October 29 – November 7....
, and the 1950 British Empire Games
1950 British Empire Games

The 1950 British Empire Games was the fourth edition of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, New Zealand between the 4th and February 11 1950, after a 12 year gap from the 3rd edition of the games....
 were hosted at Karapiro.

Ecology

The Waikato River and its hydro lakes are home to at least 19 types of native fish, 10 types of introduced fish. The introduced species include rainbow
Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America as well as much of the central, western, eastern, and especially the northern portions of the United States....
 and brown trout
Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species.They are distinguished chiefly by the fact that the brown trout is largely a fresh water fish, while the sea trout shows anadromous reproduction, migrating to the oceans for much of its life and returning to freshwater only to Spawn ....
 providing what has been call "the finest fly-fishing in the world" . Other introduced species include carp
Common carp

The Common carp or European carp is a widespread freshwater fish most closely related to the common goldfish , with which it is capable of Hybrid ....
 and mosquitofish
Mosquitofish

The mosquitofish is a species of freshwater fish, also commonly known simply by its genus name, gambusia, although such usage is ambiguous....
 have become major pests.

Environmental issues

The whole length of the river is administered by the Regional Council, or "Environment Waikato", based in Hamilton. Several major problems currently face the river.

The large catchment area of the Waikato River is highly fertile farmland, so intensive agriculture is present. Due to the agricultural activity within the catchment significant agricultural pollution is leached
Leaching (agriculture)

In agriculture, leaching refers to the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the soil, due to rain and irrigation. Soil structure, crop planting, type and application rates of fertilizers, and other factors are taken into account to avoid excessive nutrient loss....
 into groundwater and contained in the runoff
RUNOFF

RUNOFF was the first computer text formatting computer program to see significant use. It was written in 1964 for the Compatible Time-Sharing System operating system by Jerome H....
. The mismanagement of nitrogen fertilizer
Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves....
 and effluent spreading
Effluent spreading

Effluent spreading is a process in which a slurry of effluent from a dairy farm's Dairy_Farming#Milking_parlors is pumped and spread on pasture....
 practices in dairy farming
Dairy farming

Dairy farming is a class of agriculture, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale....
 is seen as the major causes of this pollution.

The removal of the native vegetation throughout the catchment to accommodate the increasing demand for farmland has also resulted in the silt
Silt

Silt is soil or Rock derived granular material of a Particle size between sand and clay. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body....
ing-up of what was once a navigable channel in the river with loose soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
s from eroded farmland.

Arsenic
Arsenic

Arsenic is a well-known chemical element that has the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250....
 is also a major problem in places the content reaches 0.035 greatly exceeding the WHO
Who

*Who is an English language interrogative pronoun....
 provisional guideline of 0.01 grams of arsenic per cubic metre. The majority of arsenic in the Waikato River comes from the Wairakei Geothermal Power Station
Wairakei Power Station

The Wairakei Power Station is a geothermal power station near the Wairakei Geothermal Field in New Zealand. Wairakei lies in the Taupo Volcanic Zone....
.

Recently controversial was the pumping of water from a point near the seaward end of the river further north to Auckland
Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
. This is somewhat purified and used for a portion of the city's domestic water supply
Water supply

Water supply is the process of self-provision or provision by third parties in the water industry, commonly a public utility, of water resources of various qualities to different users....
.

Slightly-modified human waste
Human waste

Human waste is a waste type usually used to refer to byproducts of digestion, such as feces and urine. Human waste is most often transported as sewage in waste water through sewerage systems....
s are pumped into the river downriver of several town
Town

A town is a type of human settlement ranging from a few to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition....
s, including Hamilton.

A further issue is industrial and metropolitan waste from early-established landfill
Landfill

File:Wysypisko.jpgFile:Landfill face.JPGFile:Landfill.jpg A landfill, also known as a dump , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of list of solid waste treatment technologies....
s and waste-emitting factories on the banks of the river.

These include an unlined waste dump at Horotiu, just downriver from Hamilton, whose leachate
Leachate

Leachate is the liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill; it varies widely in composition regarding the age of the landfill and the type of waste that it contains....
s include persistent organic pollutant
Persistent organic pollutant

Persistent organic pollutants are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical decomposition, biodegradation, and photolysis processes....
s such as dieldrin
Dieldrin

Dieldrin is a chlorinated hydrocarbon originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. The molecule has a ring structure based on naphthalene....
 in quantities toxic to freshwater
Freshwater

Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids....
 marine life. Tribes at the northern point of the river who took legal action to oppose the continued operation of this dump spoke of finding many dead, disordered and distressed fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 near their tribal lands.

External links