I don't think they have anything to hide, why would they? The Waikato river does not drive the turbines per se, it is the controlled spill from the dams on the lakes that drive the turbines that generate the power (hence controlled lake levels). The river tops up the big lake and then they control how much water is in each lake, and therefore each downstream section of the river, by spilling from each subsequent lake at varying rates until there are no more dams. There is take off along the river/lakes say for irrigation, but there is also inflow from tributary streams and springs.

Quote Originally Posted by snapiti View Post
I think you will find this information is a classic case of smoke in mirrors.
I note the charts both short and long term only relate to the level of the lake when the real measure for MRP is water flow down the Waikato river.
You would think they would correlate quite nicely but as there are many other users of the water from the river they often do not.
Whilst the long term water levels of lake Taupo show in 2013 and in 2014 the level was lower than now the river flow charts show the current river flow levels are as low if not lower than those years.
my post 579 has the link to these figures.
More intensive farm irrigation maybe the cause.
Levels of lake Taupo mean F all to MRP.....it's the river flow for driving the turbines that matter and the fact that they choose to cover the lake levels more thoroughly than the water flow levels means they have something to hide........smoke and mirrors stuff PT.