Lake Kimihia is located approximately 5 km to the Northeast of

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlement ...

, in the

Waikato Region Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

of New Zealand. Lake Kimihia is a riverine lake, which links to the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

Lake Kimihia was significantly modified as a result of open cast coal mining, around the early 1940s. A

cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...

was built to allow mining over most of the bed, by reducing the lake from its previous . In the 1960s there were two lakes, but the westerly one has been replaced by a wetland. The lake is situated within predominantly pastoral land. An area at the southern end of the lake is being developed into a wetland, as the Huntly bypass of the

Waikato Expressway The Waikato Expressway is a dual carriageway section of (SH 1) in New Zealand's Waikato region. Constructed in stages, it forms part of the link between Auckland and Hamilton. Currently stretching from Auckland to south of Cambridge, the hig ...

is built across part of the former lakebed.

References

External links

Waikato River lower lakes
'' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' Kimihia Kimihia Kimihia Huntly, New Zealand {{Waikato-geo-stub