| Lake Karapiro | |
|---|---|
 Lake Karapiro | |
  Lake Karapiro | |
| Location | North Island |
| Coordinates | 37°55′43″S 175°32′40″E / 37.92856°S 175.544529°E |
| Lake type | reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Waikato River |
| Primary outflows | Waikato River |
| Basin countries | New Zealand |
| First flooded | April 1947 |
| Max. length | 11.0 kilometres (6.8 mi) |
| Max. width | 0.9 kilometres (0.56 mi) |
| Surface area | 7.7 km2 (3.0 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 11.0 metres (36.1 ft) |
| Max. depth | 30.5 metres (100 ft) |
| Water volume | 0.085 cubic kilometres (0.020 cu mi) |
| Surface elevation | 50.5–53.5 metres (166–176 ft) [1] |
Lake Karapiro (Māori: Karāpiro) is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south-east of Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for the 96-megawatt Karapiro power station.[2] The lake is also one of two premier rowing venues in New Zealand (alongside Lake Ruataniwha in Canterbury) and is the base for the country's high-performance rowing programme.
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Lake Karapiro - Roadside Stories
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Lake Karapiro - Submerged Histories
Transcription
[Archival audio, 1954] The Karapiro Dam is an example of state hydroelectric enterprise, one of ten great stations planned for the harnessing of the Waikato -- the Dominion's longest river. One million horsepower is the ultimate aim. [Narrator] Lake Karapiro is a man-made lake on the Waikato River. The area was flooded in order to create an artificial lake to supply the Lake Karapiro hydroelectric station with water. This power station, along with others constructed on the Waikato River, are key components in New Zealand's national power grid. Most of New Zealand's electricity is produced from hydro-power installations. The Waikato River is New Zealand's longest, and is perfect for hydro-electricity production because it drops over 300 metres between its source at Lake Taupō and where it reaches the sea, at Port Waikato. The outbreak of World War Two caused a serious power shortage in New Zealand, which lasted into the 1950s. It led to a government programme to develop water resources, including a massive construction project of eight hydroelectric power stations and artificial lakes along the Waikato River. Work began on the Karapiro dam in 1940 and it was scheduled to take three years to build. However, because of wartime shortages [of labour and material], as well as problems controlling water seepage, it took until 1947 for the 700 workers to complete the dam. The new lake created by the dam flooded an important Māori site which gave the lake its name, Karapiro. In the 1820s the Ngāti Maru tribe from the Hauraki Gulf were driven south by Northland's Ngāpuhi tribe, who possessed muskets. Ngāti Maru were given refuge in the Waikato by the Ngāti Hauā tribe, but tensions soon mounted between them. This tension culminated in the famous battle of Taumatawīwī in 1830. Victorious Ngāti Hauā chief Te Waharoa ordered that the bodies of his dead warriors be burned in case Ngāti Maru should return and counter-attack. The cremation took place on rocks beside the Waikato River. The name Karapiro consists of the Maori word 'kara', meaning rock, and 'piro', meaning putrid smell. Another site to be flooded when Lake Karapiro was created was Horahora station, a small hydroelectric power station. Opened in 1913, it was the first power station to be built on the Waikato River. It was constructed by the Waihi Gold Mining Company to help power their gold mining operations in the Coromandel. When Queen Elizabeth visited Karapiro in 1954 during her coronation tour of New Zealand, Karapiro's generators were the largest in the country. The creation of Lake Karapiro has had a big spin-off for recreational boating enthusiasts. It is a world-class rowing venue and ideal for many other water sports, including yachting, powerboating and water-skiing. In 1950 Lake Karapiro hosted the Empire Games rowing events, and [it] was the site of the rowing world championships in 1978 and 2010. Today, Lake Karapiro is rated as a world-class rowing facility and has been the base for some of our leading Olympic rowers, including gold-medal winners Rob Waddell and the Evers-Swindell twins.
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 lake created.[4][5] The ten-megawatt Horahora Power Station, 13 km upstream of Karapiro Dam was also flooded with the formation of Lake Karapiro.[6]
Construction of the Karapiro Dam began in 1940, however progress was slow due to labour and material shortages related to World War II. The dam was completed in early 1947, four years behind schedule. Due to the post-war electricity shortages, the filling of Lake Karapiro had to be coordinated to minimise the time between Horahora's decommissioning and Karapiro's commissioning. The lake level reached Horahora on 4 April 1947 upon which Horahora stopped generating and was submerged. The lake was sufficiently filled on 10 April 1947 to allow the first turbine-generator at Karapiro to enter service.[7]
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.[8] The national rowing championships, then called the Dominion championships, were first held on the lake in 1949. Since the 1980s, 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).[9] 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.[10]
The lake hosted the 2010 Rowing World Championships.[11] The purpose-built Sir Don Rowlands Centre was completed in June 2010, prior to the event.[12]
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 taken from the lake is 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 grid. The station is a base load generator due to its need to maintain water flows into the Waikato River system beyond the lake.
Invasive species
Lake Karapiro is infested with hornwort, a submerged macrophyte from North America that is ranked as the worst submerged macrophyte in New Zealand.[13] This plant is an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act 1993.
More recently, the lake was the first site where gold clams were detected in New Zealand, in May 2023. The gold clam grows and breeds very quickly, and can alter an ecosystem by reducing the majority of the phytoplankton, excreting a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus, and physically dominating the available space on the river or lakebed. Despite this, the lake is still open for recreation,[14] making it a threat to other waterways because people may unknowingly spread golden clams on their watercrafts. It has been added to the unwanted organism register.
Climate
| Climate data for Lake Karapiro (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 24.4 (75.9) |
24.8 (76.6) |
23.0 (73.4) |
19.9 (67.8) |
16.9 (62.4) |
14.3 (57.7) |
13.5 (56.3) |
14.6 (58.3) |
16.0 (60.8) |
18.0 (64.4) |
20.0 (68.0) |
22.5 (72.5) |
19.0 (66.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 19.4 (66.9) |
20.0 (68.0) |
18.2 (64.8) |
15.5 (59.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
10.4 (50.7) |
9.6 (49.3) |
10.6 (51.1) |
12.0 (53.6) |
13.8 (56.8) |
15.5 (59.9) |
18.0 (64.4) |
14.7 (58.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) |
15.1 (59.2) |
13.4 (56.1) |
11.0 (51.8) |
8.8 (47.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
5.7 (42.3) |
6.5 (43.7) |
8.0 (46.4) |
9.6 (49.3) |
11.0 (51.8) |
13.6 (56.5) |
10.3 (50.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 77.4 (3.05) |
66.2 (2.61) |
66.6 (2.62) |
97.5 (3.84) |
100.4 (3.95) |
113.5 (4.47) |
124.0 (4.88) |
113.9 (4.48) |
99.5 (3.92) |
85.1 (3.35) |
79.2 (3.12) |
95.2 (3.75) |
1,118.5 (44.04) |
| Source: NIWA[15] | |||||||||||||
References
- ^ "Lake Levels". Mighty River Power.
- ^ 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.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Archaeology". Cambridge Museum. Cambridge Historical Society. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ^ "Lake Karapiro – roadside stories". NZHistory. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ^ Gullery, Lawrence (6 February 2021). "Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: The desecration at Lake Karāpiro". Stuff. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Martin, John E. (1991). People, politics and power stations : electric power generation in New Zealand, 1880–1990. Bridget Williams Books. ISBN 0-908912-16-1.
- ^ "STATE HYDRO-ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT STATEMENT BY THE HON. R. SEMPLE, MINISTER IN CHARGE OF THE STATE HYDRO-ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT". Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 1948 session I: D-04.
- ^ "Rowing in New Zealand". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ "The world comes to Karapiro". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ "NZ to host 2010 world rowing champs". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 8 June 2006. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ^ "2010 World Rowing Championships". World Rowing. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- ^ "Lake Karapiro: Official Opening of the Don Rowlands Centre". Governor-General of New Zealand. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- ^ "Hornwort". Hornwort. DOC. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ "Lake Karapiro". Lake Karapiro. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ "CliFlo – National Climate Database : Lake Karapiro Cws". NIWA. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
External links
- "Our Power Stations". Mercury.
This page was last edited on 20 May 2024, at 06:42