Lake Ruataniwha

BW

Reservoir

The Lake Ruataniwha is a reservoir in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. The lake is located 2 km south of Twizel in the traditional boundary of the regions Canterbury and Otago. It was built as part of the hydroelectric project on the Waitaki River. The Maori gave the lake its name Ruataniwha ( " two Taniwha " ) in accordance with these beings from their mythology. The recently formed from Hopkins River and Dobson Rifer Ohau River flows through the lake, and flows into Lake Benmore.

At the inlet to the lake there is the hydroelectric plant Ohau A, with an average annual output of 1140 GWh. The self- responsible for the damming Lake Ruataniwha dam is located at the confluence of Lake Benmore to the hydroelectric power plant Ohau B / C with an output of 958 GWh.

A holiday park with camping site is located on the lakeshore. The Lake Ruataniwha is one of the main helm routes in New Zealand. The rowing course is already marked, an anchor for the marker buoys before the lake was flooded. These and other works for the preparation of the rowing course were not really part of the hydroelectric project. They were carried out at the instigation of the project engineer Max Smith. This actually intended as a service to the public work led to a controversy that led to his early retirement.

On the route a competition for under 18 year olds is held every second year, the Maadi Cup instead.

The State Highway 8 runs along the east end of the lake.

Swell

• Information brochure on the Waitaki lakes congestion (pdf, English, 1.22 MB)

• Lake in Australia and Oceania
• Lake in New Zealand
• Reservoir in Australia and Oceania
• River system Waitaki River
• Otago (Region)
• Canterbury ( region )