Waitaki River

The broad Waitaki River is fed by the snowfields and glaciers of the Southern Alps, and its principal tributaries come from the alpine lakes Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau. With these and numerous other tributaries it has a catchment area of almost 12,000 sq.km. It forms the boundary between the Canterbury and Otago regions.

Two gigantic hydroelectric schemes have transformed both the course of the river and the landscape. On the upper course of the river, near Twizel, there is the Upper Waitaki Power Development Scheme, and on its middle course are the Benmore, Aviemore and Waitaki hydroelectric stations, each supplied by an artificial lake created by damming the river. Much of the river's course is now a chain of lakes. The water stored in the lakes is also used for agricultural and horticultural irrigation in the arid plains on the lower course of the river.

There are fish ladders at the dams for the benefit of trout and salmon anglers - and of the fish.