A visit to the weir at Kaitoke

 We went to look at the weir during the week. It was built in the 1950’s and took a bit of time as the river is prone to flash flooding and they didn’t have room to put in a tunnel to divert the water. The weir raises the water by 4 metres, which allows the water to be gravity fed into grates in the riverbed and into a chamber inside the weir. Then it goes to the strainer house where the worst of the debris is sieved out. From there it goes to be treated ready to go to the taps in Wellington.

Originally it was all gravity fed as Kaitoke is 200 metres above sea level while Kairoi is only 50 metres. Nowadays there are pumps to help the water move a bit quicker.

A minimum of 600 litres per second is allowed down the river to protect the health of the river and its inhabitants. On average, 150 million litres of water is treated. That's enough for 4 full baths per person.

The area is a rainforest with rata and rimu trees. They get 2.3 metres of rain a year; compared to 1.2 metres in Wellington. No wonder it is a great water resource for a big city.

Below are the photos I took on our walk.

This is the convergence of the Pakuratahi river and the Hutt River

We are camping by the Pakuratahi River. It's the one at the top of the photo.

There were lots of trees with hollows and interesting shapes in the forest.

Flume bridge notice. (I hope you can read it)

lichen on a rock

the pipe under the bridge is taking the water to the strainer house.

The weir.

Strainer house with large roller type sieves that take out any bits from the river before going to Te Marua for further processing.

We will be moving on from here later in the week. It is a beautiful place and very serene. Maybe one day we will be able to come back for another week or two. Next stop Masterton on our way to the east coast.