The Cobb Reservoir is a hydro storage lake fed by the Cobb River in the

Tasman District Tasman District () is a local government district in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It borders the Canterbury Region, West Coast Region, Marlborough Region and Nelson City. It is administered by the Tasman District Council ...

of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

of New Zealand. The reservoir feeds the

Cobb Power Station The Cobb Power Station is a hydroelectric facility on the Cobb River (New Zealand), Cobb River, in the Tasman District of New Zealand. The power station is located in Upper Tākaka, northwest of Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson. Annual generation i ...

and is above sea level but drops significantly with low rainfall. Cobb Reservoir is the highest hydro storage lake in New Zealand, and is entirely surrounded by

Kahurangi National Park Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging from the Buller River near Murc ...

. The reservoir, dam, penstock and powerhouse are excluded from the national park. The dam that forms the reservoir was built from 1949 to 1954, replacing a smaller structure built about ten years earlier. It is an earth dam high by long. The geology of the area precluded the construction of a concrete dam. A narrow winding road leads over Cobb Ridge to Cobb Reservoir and along the lake's shore, providing access to tramping tracks in the area surrounding the valley. The road was built in the 1940s and remains unsealed from Cobb Power Station onwards. The access road to the reservoir is the only road into the interior of Kahurangi National Park.

Climate

References

External links

Cobb Reservoir
at Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand {{Tasman District Reservoirs in New Zealand Landforms of the Tasman District

Climate

See also

References

External links