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The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand. Its catchment covers 14,260 square kilometres or 12 per cent of the area of the North Island. The river starts its journey to the sea from high in the central North Island volcanic zone, 2797 metres above sea level.
From there it flows into Lake Taupo. Leaving the lake, the river cuts through the volcanic plateau flowing north, passing through eight hydro electric dams, and onto the lowlands from Cambridge to Mercer.
The river finally flows into the Tasman Sea at Port Waikato after a journey of 425 kilometres from Lake Taupo.
The power scheme begins at Lake Taupo, which has control gates to regulate the flow of water into the river. Power stations are located at Aratiatia, Ohakuri, Atiamuri, Whakamaru, Maraetai, Waipapa, Arapuni and Karapiro. Approximately 4000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity are generated annually by these stations, around 13 per cent of the country’s total electrical generating capacity.
Huka Falls, Taupo
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. The river drops through a series of watersfalls, the most impressive of which is the last 11 metre drop.
River walkways, Hamilton
Many of the nominations we received mentioned the wonderful river walkways in Hamilton. These are ‘share with care’ walkways meaning you can enjoy them by foot or by bike.
The river can be enjoyed at any time of year. There are often events such as rowing, water skiing races or fishing competitions on the river – check out our navigation safety events calendar to see what’s coming up.
Water quality in the Waikato River is much better than it was in the 1950s. Urban waste water treatment has improved considerably. Despite being the most intensively used river in the country, the Waikato's water quality is considered to be excellent compared to other rivers around the world.
Water quality
Environment Waikato measures water quality every month at 10 sites along the Waikato River to assess the suitability for contact recreation (such as swimming) and for the plants and animals that live there.
Find out more about how we measure water quality. Use our map of sites along the Waikato River to check out water quality in your local area.
Clean Streams
Environment Waikato's Clean Streams project provides advice and financial support to encourage farmer efforts to reduce the impacts of farming on waterways through fencing and planting waterway margins.
Project Watershed
The project was set up to address the issues of flood protection, soil conservation and river management in the greater Waikato catchment. Find out more about Waikato catchment services, funding and the five management zones that make up the catchment area.
There are many things you can do to improve and maintain our freshwater resource.
- Fence off streams, rivers, swamps, wetlands and seeps to prevent stock access.
- Plant along banks of waterways to help stabilise them and trap contaminants.
- Make sure farm dairy effluent irrigators are operating effectively and are moved frequently to prevent effluent ponding and run-off into waterways.
- Avoid break-feeding or mob-stocking close to waterways, especially in wet weather.
- Form a care group with your neighbours to discuss and use better land management practices to protect your local waterways.
- Keep hazardous substances (such as oil and pesticides) out of our stormwater system and away from ground water wells.
- Install stormwater detention areas in new subdivisions to improve water quality (less silt and animal faeces reaches the rivers and streams).
