Lake Tekapo water spill warning

An over-capacity Lake Tekapo could spill excess water down the Tekapo River within the next few days but what has caused the overflow remains unclear.

Electricity generator Genesis, which owns and operates the Tekapo Power Scheme, warned that the lake was approaching its ‘‘maximum control level due to high inflows’’. Once this was reached, the lake would ‘‘spill into the Tekapo River as early as the next few days’’.

Lake Tekapo, which has its summer maximum level set at 709.8 metres above sea level, is sitting at 709.9m.

A Genesis spokesperson could not confirm the cause and referred Stuff to MetService. Meteorologist Lewis Ferris ruled out the rise of recent rains on the West Coast.

‘‘There has not been any significant rain to cause any issues,’’ he said.

Ferris said a possible cause could lie up in the mountains. ‘‘We’ve had quite a bit of snow melt so there could have been water coming down into the catchment.’’

The Genesis spokesperson said the spill warning was a standard notification whenever Lake Tekapo reached its maximum consented levels. He appealed to people in the area to be alert at all times when in and around the Tekapo River.

‘‘Please do not camp in or around the bed of the Tekapo River. If you see others that are at risk, please call Genesis’ Control Centre on 07 384 7210.’’

Environment Canterbury duty flood controller Graham Sullivan advised all to avoid the riverbed and nearby banks for recreation.

‘‘There’s lots of factors to be aware of including spills from dams and heavy rain further up the catchments, which can take several days to arrive in downstream waterways.’’

He advised people to check the weather forecast before heading out and to monitor Environment Canterbury’s rainfall data and river flow data.