By ELEANOR BLACK
Lake Taupo has hit an 11-year low for the month of September, and local people fear the worst for the money-spinning summer season if the water level does not rise soon.
The big lake has been affected by New Zealand's ultra-mild winter, the second warmest on record.
Jim Salinger, the senior climate scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said yesterday that the country's first winter of the new millennium - the three months to the end of August - was the second warmest since reliable measurements were established in the 1850s.
Lake Taupo is at a critical point, only 8cm above its lowest recorded level for a September, which was 356.17m in 1989.
Three Mile Bay is the worst affected area, with rarely exposed rocks clearly visible.
It is possible to wade out 110m and stand with the water at chest height.
Harbourmaster Doug Brown said that the jetski lane was unsafe because of rocks, and boats could not berth at the double ramp, Taupo's second most-used ramp.
At Omori, another popular ramp is barely useable and boaties have complained.
At least three boat ramps around the perimeter of the lake are off limits because of shallow water and a yacht is stranded in the Taupo harbour because its keel is buried in sand.
A commercial catamaran is still able to operate, but it has to navigate carefully among the rocks.
"If the lake was as low as this over summer there would definitely be problems," said Mr Brown.
A spokesman for the Taupo District Council said the area was a popular visitor destination year round, and the lake's level had so far had no impact.
But electricity producers are keeping watch on New Zealand's most important lake for hydro generation.
Lake Taupo can hold enough water to generate electricity to power the entire North Island for two weeks. Eleven power stations rely on water from the lake and provide more than 56 per cent of the North Island's and 38 per cent of New Zealand's requirements.
The warm winter was produced by more frequent highs (anticyclones) east of the Chatham Islands, bringing more northeasterly winds than normal over most of New Zealand. Surrounding seas were also warmer.
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