Waitaki River

River system of the Waitaki River

The Waitaki River is a major river in the South Island of New Zealand. He is a little over 110 km of the main river of the Mackenzie Basin. The average flow of the Waitaki River at Kurow is 356 m³ / s

He is a so-called braided river. The Lakes Lake Benmore, Lake Aviemore and Lake Waitaki are due to its headwaters. These in turn are ultimately fed by three large glacial lakes: Pukaki, Lake Tekapo and Lake Ohau. Lake Benmore and Lake Aviemore be dammed up by dams, Benmore Dam and the Aviemore Dam.

The Waitaki has several tributaries, the most important of the Ahuriri River and the River Hakataramea are. He passed the places Kurow and Glenavy before it opens on the east coast of the island in the Pacific Ocean between Timaru and Oamaru.

The middle of the river forms the political border between the Canterbury region and the Otago region. Through the company Meridian Energy Limited, a project for a number of canals and levees were designed that should be used for irrigation and power generation. This as Project Aqua designated project had to use the goal of 77 % of the water on the lower reaches of the river to generate electricity. The plans were abandoned in March 2004. Economic reasons were given for this, although certainly strong public resistance may have played a role against the plans.

The river is popular for recreation, fishing and jet boating.

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