Current situation
The Mangakotukutuku
Stream catchment
originates in agricultural land south of Hamilton before entering the
southern suburbs of Glenview, Bader, Melville, Sunnyhills and Fitzroy, and merging
with the Waikato River opposite Hamilton Gardens. Mangakotukutuku
translates into English as "stream of the native tree
fuchsia", providing some insights into the ecological values of this
gully network in days gone by.
| Total
area of the Mangakotukutuku
catchment is 2295 ha, made up predominantly of rural land (about 70% of
catchment area) followed by residential areas, and much
smaller amounts of
recreational, community, industrial and commercial land (Tonkin & Taylor 2001).
Of the rural land, 298 ha in the Peacockes area is designated for
future urban development. Around one-third
of the
catchment area is impervious (i.e., roads, car-parks, roofs, etc. which
do not allow rainfall infiltration). This is the second lowest
impervious area of 15 Hamilton City
catchments
reported on by Tonkin &
Taylor (2001). The Mangakotukutuku catchment has low levels
of industry and
commercial activity compared to other urban catchments, such as the
Waitawhiriwhiri that
receive
high loads of contaminants from industry (Hickey
et al.
2001),
and there are no legacy effects such as historical landfills like those
present
in the
Waitawhiriwhiri and Kirikiriroa. As a result of all these factors, the
Mangakotukutuku catchment is much less impacted by human activities
than other
catchments of streams flowing through Hamilton. |
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A
total of 34 km stream has been mapped in the Mangakotukutuku catchment,
but there are also many more unmapped tributaries present. Around half
of the mapped stream length occurs within the city boundary,
representing about 13% of mapped stream length in Hamilton City. The
stream has three main branches
that flow through gullies for most of their length, including several schools, council parks and other public land (see map).
The Rukuhia (left)
branch
originates as drains in Rukuhia Swamp before flowing through Melville
and Glenview and joining with the middle branch in Sandford Park. The
Te Anau (middle) branch drains developed peatland and rolling farmland. This branch flows past
Te Anua Park, with a side-stream passing through Fitzroy Park, before
entering Sandford Park. The Peacockes (right) branch drains
agricultural land in the Peacockes Road area designated
for future development in the Structure Plan, and enters Sandford Park through a culvert
under Waterford Road.
A
total of 15 stormwater outlets is located in the Mangakotukutuku catchment; most of these (11)
have
diameters of less than 300 mm (Tonkin
& Taylor 2001). Diameters of the other
outlets range from
300-600 mm to greater than 900 mm .
In addition, there is an
unknown number of
informal residential stormwater pipes discharging to streams in the
catchment.
European
history
Please
let us know if you have any information on the European history of
Mangakotukutuku catchment or want to research this topic for our website
Pre-European
history
Please
let us
know if you have any information on the pre-European history of
Mangakotukutuku catchment or want to research this topic for our website
Geological
history and the formation of gullies
Hamilton
City is located in a basin comprising sedimentary materials, primarily
of rhyolitic and pumice sands, silt, peat and volcanic ash.
These sediments were laid down by the ancestral Waikato River.
Around 15,000 years ago, the Waikato River started to cut down through
these sediments, creating its present channel and exposing
springs along the river banks. These springs undermined
the river
banks and caused slips, eventually eroding their way inland and giving
rise to the complex network of streams flowing through steep-sided gullies
such as the Mangakotukutuku.
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