 lake karapiro is an artificial reservoir lake on the waikato river,  south-east of the city of hamilton in new zealand's north island. the lake was formed in 1947 by damming the waikato river to store water for the 96-megawatt karapiro hydroelectric power station. the lake, regarded as one of new zealand's best rowing venues, hosted the world rowing championships in 1978 and 2010, as well as the rowing events for the 1950 british empire games. lake karapiro alternates with the south island's lake ruataniwha in hosting the new zealand national rowing championships and the new zealand secondary school rowing championships (maadi cup). "a fisa inspection panel had visited lake karapiro venue in march and said in its report that it was one of the fairest courses in the world they had seen and that the lake was one of the most picturesque in the world." == etymology == 'kara' means stone, 'piro' means evil-smelling. according to legend, karapiro was the stronghold of the chief o-te-ihingarangi, and was where the ngati haua and their tauranga allies made a defensive pact during the land wars of 1864.mighty river ==hydroelectric power== the 96-megawatt karapiro power station is located adjacent to the dam at the head of the lake, and is the eighth and last hydroelectric power station located on the waikato river. water for the power station up to  at full power, is taken from th
Lakes_of_Waikato Reservoirs_in_New_Zealand Rowing_venues Waikato_River