6 3.0 The Ohinemuri River Catchment 3.1 Location The Ohinemuri catchment is located in the Hauraki District of the Waikato Region with its headwaters originating in western hill-country, north-east of Waihi. The Ohinemuri River is approximately 28 km in length and flows in a westerly direction, draining steep hill country to the north (the southern end of the Coromandel Range) and to the south (northern end of the Kaimai Range). The river flows through the Karangahake Gorge and across floodplains to its confluence with the Waihou River near the township of Paeroa, and the Waihou River travels north to discharge into the Firth of Thames. 3.2 Land use WRC (2019) summarise the land use within the Ohinemuri River catchment. The Ohinemuri has a catchment area of 34,803 ha and the predominant land cover is dairying (34%), along with indigenous forest (30%) located primarily in the steeper areas of the catchment (Figure 2). Another 16% of the catchment is in livestock farming. Other land uses include fruit growing, lifestyle block, idle land, plant nurseries, poultry, saleyards, tourism, urban, vegetable and wetland, which in total amounts to some 5% of the total area of the catchment. The two main towns within the catchment are Paeroa and Waihi. Figure 2: Landcover within the Ohinemuri River catchment. Water monitoring points are the WRC and NIWA SOE programme. From WRC (2019).
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