Lake Waikopiro lies adjacent to Lake Tutira and is a culturally significant lake as it was a food gathering and resting site on an ancient Māori travelling trail. Waikōpiro flows into Tūtira under a narrow strip of land, and the two lakes are effectively one during high water levels. Lake Waikopiro covers 10 hectares and has a maximum depth of 16 m. The highly erodible catchment was enriched with phosphorus via aerial topdressing during the late 1940s and 50s. Water quality problems became apparent in the late 1950s and the lake has been prone to problematic cyanobacterial blooms for decades (source lawa.co.nz).
