Mohaka River
The Mohaka River begins in Kaimanawa Forest Park near Lake Taupo, and flows east through the Kaweka Forest Park and across rugged framed hill country to Hawke Bay. The Napier-Taupo highway crosses the Mohaka on a dramatic bridge high above a gorge.
The Mohaka is covered by a Water Conservation Order, however it is at threat from pollution and from a proposed dam downstream of the WCO area.
Because a headwater tributary, the Taharua River, begins on an area of the volcanic plateau that has been converted to industrial-scale dairying, polluted water is entering the Mohaka. Some of the dairy farms are owned by Alan Crafar, who is now notorious for repeatedly breaching animal welfare and pollution rules without remorse. The main river above the Taharua confluence is pristine, and much loved by fishers, hunters and trampers. But below the Taharua the quality is terrible. The Hawke's Bay Regional Council is slowly moving to take action.
Meridian Energy has proposed a dam on the Mohaka below the area protected by the Water Conservation Order. However, this proposal now seems to be on hold.
Who's Planning to Destroy the wild Mohaka River
The Threat to the Mohaka River
Meridian Energy has investigated a dam on the lower river. However, the most immediate threat is the rapidly deteriorating water quality, despite the Water Conservation Order, due to dairying in the Taharua tributary.
Organisations Supporting the Mohaka River
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