The source of the Waitara River lies in the very steep hill country to the east of Mount Taranaki/Egmont, near Tahora. After proceeding in a southwesterly direction toward Central

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

, the river abruptly turns to flow in a northwesterly direction to the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

: meeting it at the coastal town of Waitara. The river once had a dock in Waitara, where export meat from the town's Thos. Borthwick & Sons freezing-works was loaded onto ships. However, this trade was subsequently conducted from New Plymouth's Port Taranaki until the works closed in 1995. The Waitara is the first mud-bottomed river to the north of

Cape Egmont Cape Egmont, splitting Northern and Southern Taranaki Bights, is the westernmost point of Taranaki, on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is located close to the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont. It was named '' ...

. It is prone to flooding, and there are stop banks (

levees A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastli ...

) to the west of the river (upstream from the bridge) and on both sides downstream. The historic Bertrand Road suspension bridge, (one of only a few such road bridges in New Zealand) is several kilometres from State Highway 3 (just up from the town).

New Zealand Wars

In December 1860 during the

First Taranaki War The First Taranaki War (also known as the North Taranaki War) was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori and the New Zealand government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from M ...

campaign of the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...

, British forces under Major-General Pratt carried out sapping operations against a major Māori defensive line called Te Arei ("The barrier") on the west side of the Waitara River, which was barring the way to the historic hill pā of Pukewairangi. During this operation, Colour Serjeant John Lucas was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

on 18 March 1861.

Water quality

Historically, water quality of the Waitara River was poor due to uncontrolled discharges of untreated Waitara town sewage and to industrial wastes from the meatworks. The river was observed to run red with discharges from the meatworks. The water quality improved significantly following the 1978 construction of an ocean outfall for sewage and following shutdown of the meatworks. Until 1999, sewage from Inglewood was discharged into the river. In terms of e.coli levels, the Waitara River is listed as the second worst of 77 sites listed in the NIWA National River Water Quality Network, ranked as suitable for contact recreation, e.g. swimming.

References

Rivers of Taranaki Rivers of New Zealand {{Taranaki-river-stub