Lake Horowhenua

Lake Horowhenua is located in the Horowhenua, an area of the southern Manawatu-Wanganui region in New Zealand's North Island. It covers an area of 3.9 square kilometres. The lake, also known as Punahau, lies on a sandy plain two kilometres to the west of Levin and five kilometres from the coast of the Tasman Sea. It is a shallow lake, only some two metres in depth, fed by various small streams, and is drained by the Hokio Stream. The lake was once surrounded by podocarp forest as the centre of a rich wetland ecosystem. Today the trees are gone and the wetland has been substantially drained. The lake is owned by the Māori Muaupoko iwi, who, with the help of the Horowhenua Lake Trust, are actively attempting to restore the wetland system...