page_title: Aratiatia Power Station
section_title: Aratiatia Rapids
hierarchical_section_title: Aratiatia Power Station / Aratiatia Rapids
caption_attribution_description: English: View looking up the Aratiatia Rapids on the Waikato River. Photographed by Albert Percy Godber in 1928.
context_page_description: Aratiatia Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the first hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, and is located 13 kilometres downstream of Lake Taupo. Aratiatia is owned and operated by Mercury Energy.
  Aratiatia is a largely run-of-the-river station, as it generates electricity from water from the Lake Taupo control gates and to the Ohakuri Power Station. It does, however, have a 55-hectare lake behind the station for temporary storage.
  The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "pegged ladder" for Aratiatia.
context_section_description: Before construction of the dam and hydro station, the Aratiatia Rapids were a prominent feature on the Waikato River; a scenic reserve from 1906.  The dam construction meant that no water flowed over the rapids.  However, several times a day, the Aratiatia dam gates of the Waikato River are opened, which restores the rapids to their normal operation. There are several public lookout points on the high rock bluffs that dominate this turbulent stretch of Aratiatia Rapids.
caption: View of Aratiatia Rapids in 1928
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