Opuha Dam
Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox dam The Opuha Dam is located on the Opuha River, a tributary of the Ōpihi River in South Canterbury, New Zealand. The dam is used for water storage for farming irrigation and provides 7.7 MW of electricity to New Zealand's national grid. The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports breeding colonies of the endangered black-billed gull.<ref name=bli>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
History
The dam failed during construction on 6 February 1997 due to heavy rain.<ref>Lees, P. & Thomson, D. (2003) 'Emergency management, Opuha Dam collapse, Waitangi Day 1997' Template:Webarchive, NZ Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD), 2003 Symposium "Dams – Consents and Current Practice”, Papers. Part 1, pages 84–89. The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, PO Box 12-241, Wellington, New Zealand, 2003.</ref> It was completed in 1998, creating Lake Opuha.Template:Cn The lake is commonly used for recreational activity.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>
In 2003 in order to counteract oxygen depletion in the lake an aeration system was installed.<ref>J Brown. (2003) 'Air pump urged to help dying lakes', nzherald.co.nz</ref>
References
External links
- IPENZTemplate:Dead link report on emergency management.