Lake Pukaki Explained

Lake Pukaki
Native Name:Maori: Pūkaki
Location:Mackenzie District, Canterbury region, South Island
Coords:-44.1167°N 180°W
Pushpin Map:New Zealand
Pushpin Map Alt:Location of Lake Pukaki
Inflow:Tasman River
Outflow:Pukaki River
Catchment:1413km2
Basin Countries:New Zealand
Area:178.7km2
Depth:47m (154feet)
Max-Depth:70m (230feet)
Volume:4.66km3
Elevation:518.2mto532mm (1,700.1feetto1,745feetm)
Frozen:never (winter air temperatures can reach as low as though)[1]
Islands:Morgans Island
Cities:Twizel
Reference:[2] [3]

Lake Pukaki (Maori: Pūkaki)[4] [5] [6] is the largest of three roughly parallel alpine lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island. The others are Lakes Tekapo and Ōhau. All three lakes were formed when the terminal moraines of receding glaciers blocked their respective valleys, forming moraine-dammed lakes. The Alps2Ocean mountain bike trail follows the edge of Lake Pukaki for part of its length.

Geography

The glacial feed to the lakes gives them a distinctive blue colour, created by glacial flour, the extremely finely ground rock particles from the glaciers.Lake Pukaki covers an area of 178.7km², and the surface elevation of the lake normally ranges from 518.2to above sea level.[3]

The lake is fed at its northern end by the braided Tasman River, which has its source in the Tasman and Hooker Glaciers, close to Aoraki / Mount Cook. To the west of Lake Pukaki lies the Ben Ohau mountain range with Ben Dhu (1607m (5,272feet)) and Betty Hill (1601m (5,253feet)) closest to the lake. On the eastern side there is some farmland on the flatter contours between Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo.

Good views of the taller mountains in Aoraki /Mount Cook National Park, to the north can be had from the southern shore of the lake.

Tahr statue

There is a life size bronze statue of a Himalayan Tahr standing upon a boulder near the visitor centre on the southern shores of Lake Pukaki, This was the site of a protest by hunters fighting against the Department of Conservation’s controversial tahr culling programme in 2020.[7]

Hydroelectricity

The lake is now part of the Waitaki hydroelectric scheme.The lake's original outflow was at its southern end, into the Pukaki River.The outflow has been dammed, and canals carry water from Lake Pukaki and Lake Ōhau through the Ōhau A power station to Lake Ruataniwha.Pukaki is also fed by the waters of Lake Tekapo, which are diverted through a canal to a power station on Pukaki's eastern shore (Tekapo B station). The lake has been raised twice to increase storage capacity (by in 1952, and in 1976),[8] submerging Five Pound Note Island, which once appeared on New Zealand's five pound note. The current lake has an operating range of (the level within which it can be artificially raised or lowered), giving it an energy storage capacity of 1,595 GWh. Along with Lake Tekapo's 770 GWh storage, it provides over half New Zealand's hydroelectricity storage capacity. In September 2012, Environment Canterbury approved a change in conditions of Meridian Energy's resource consent controlling the water levels and flows of Lake Pukaki. The change allows Meridian to lower the lake a further 5m (16feet) from the minimum level of above sea level in the event of an energy crisis.[9]

Nearby settlements

There was previously a seasonal Ngāi Tahu food-gathering settlement on the southern shore of Lake Pukaki called Punatahu.[10] [11]

The closest town to Lake Pukaki is Twizel, to the south of the lake and Tekapo is 47 km (32 minutes drive) to the northeast. skirts the southern end of the lake, and runs north along the length of its western shore, to Mount Cook Village in the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park.

The nearby Pukaki Scientific Reserve is home to the Nationally Endangered moth species Izatha psychra.[12]

Road safety

State Highway 8 runs along the edge of Lake Pukaki. Numerous crashes have occurred here as drivers have come around a blind corner, seen Lake Pukaki and wanted to stop at an unsafe location to enjoy the view.[13] [14] [15] [16]

2020 fire

A significant scrub fire burnt on the shores of Lake Pukaki in August 2020. Both State Highway 8 and SH80 were closed. Firefighters fought the fire with 14 monsoon bucket equipped helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft, and 10 fire engines.[17] The fire destroyed 3500 hectares and took 12 days to put out. $1 million was spent fighting it.[18] Environmentalists believe that the spread of wilding pines in the Mackenzie District along with the dry conditions allowed the scrub fire to become so destructive.[19]

Pukaki Scientific Reserve

The Pukaki Scientific Reserve is a small scientific reserve of located on the western side of Lake Pukaki next to the Mount Cook road. The Pukaki Scientific Reserve is home to the endangered Izatha psychra moth.[20] The Lake Pukaki area is also home to the "Data Deficient" fly species Anabarhynchus albipennis.[21]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: New Zealand drops to 20C below freezing. Stuff. Tom Hunt. 23 June 2015. 2016-09-16.
  2. Bottom sediments of Lake Tekapo compared with adjacent Lakes Pukaki and Ohau, South Island, New Zealand. Irwin. J.. N.Z. Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. 12. 3. 245–250. September 1978 . 10.1080/00288330.1978.9515749 . free.
  3. Web site: Pukaki Lake Levels. Meridian Energy Limited. 2008-03-09.
  4. Multiple sources:News: J.H. . Beattie . 1945 . Maori Lore of Lake, Alp and Fiord . P14, 15, 16 & 38 . Otago Daily Times . Dunedin, New Zealand.
  5. Web site: Visit – Lake Pūkaki . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230202122745/https://www.mackenzienz.com/visit-lake-pukaki/ . 2023-02-02 . 2023-11-15 . Mackenzie Region, New Zealand . en-US.
  6. Web site: August 2020 . Nohoanga Site Information Sheet . 15 November 2023 . Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.
  7. Web site: 2020-07-12. Tahr Jam protest to go ahead at Lake Pukaki. 2020-09-21. Stuff. en.
  8. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/pukaki.htm Five Pound Note Island - Lake Pukaki, N.Z.
  9. News: Meridian get freedom to lower lake. Stuff.co.nz. Matthew. Lttlewood. The Timaru Herald. 28 September 2012. 2016-09-16.
  10. News: Maori Lore of Lake, Alp and Fiord. . J.H . Beattie . 15 . . 1945 . Dunedin, New Zealand.
  11. Web site: 2018 . Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park Management Plan (draft) . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230922122048/https://www.doc.govt.nz/contentassets/7604d89909144a0b9e0bc556dc8d84f9/aoraki-mt-cook-draft-npmp.pdf . 22 September 2023 . 2024-01-30 . 37.
  12. Hoare. Robert J. B.. 2010. Izatha (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Oecophoridae). Fauna of New Zealand. 65. 1–201. 2019-04-12. 2019-01-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20190126231917/https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/26296/FNZ65Izathaweb.pdf. dead.
  13. Web site: 2017-09-14. New $150,000 safe stopping area for crash prone road near Lake Pukaki. 2020-09-21. Stuff. en.
  14. Web site: 2017-07-05. Multiple calls to 'police comms' before fatal crash in Lake Pukaki. 2020-09-21. Stuff. en.
  15. Web site: 2016-03-14. Tourists took wrong turn before plunging off cliff into lake. 2020-09-21. Stuff. en.
  16. Web site: 2020-07-26. Two people seriously injured in crash near Lake Pukaki. 2020-09-21. Stuff. en.
  17. Web site: 2020-08-30. Aoraki/Mt Cook evacuated in the face of massive Mackenzie District scrubfire. 2021-03-20. Stuff. en.
  18. Web site: Lake Pukaki fire: Cost of firefighting revealed. 2021-03-20. NZ Herald. en-NZ.
  19. Web site: 2020-09-01. Huge burning glow in the sky at uncontrolled fire near Aoraki/Mt Cook. 2021-03-20. RNZ. en-nz.
  20. Web site: 2021-03-04. Narrow escape for critically endangered Canterbury moth. 2021-03-20. Stuff. en.
  21. 23-24.