Lake Karapiro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lake Karapiro |
|
|---|---|
Lake Karapiro
|
|
 Lake Karapiro
Location in North Island
|
|
| 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) |
Lake Karapiro (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. 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.
Etymology
'Kara' means stone (dark basalt), 'piro' means evil-smelling. According to legend, Karapiro was the stronghold of the chief O-Te-Ihingarangi, and was where the Ngati Haua and their Tauranga allies made a defensive pact during the land wars of 1864.
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.
The ten-megawatt Horahora Power Station at Horahora, 13 km upstream of Karapiro Dam, part of an earlier hydroelectric power scheme, was flooded with the formation of Lake Karapiro.
Images for kids
-
Sir Don Rowlands Centre
-
Hannah Osborne at the 2018 Christmas Regatta
