Hurunui River

Hurunui River
A mountainbiker crossing the Hurunui River upstream of Lake Sumner
Country	New Zealand
Basin features
Main source	Southern Alps
River mouth	Pacific Ocean sea level
Basin size	2,670 km (1,660 mi)

The Hurunui River is the fourth largest of the four principal rivers in north Canterbury, New Zealand, with a catchment area of 2,670 square kilometres (1,030 sq mi). The river flows from the eastern side of the Southern Alps, to the Pacific Ocean.

Some of the tributaries include the Jollie Brook, the Glenrae River and the Mandamus River. The north branch of the river flows through Lake Sumner. A hot pool has been constructed at the base of a small waterfall on a side stream of the river.

The river has rapids rated class II and III on the International Scale of River Difficulty and is popular for kayaking. The best whitewater is considered to be below the confluence of the north and south branches of the river in Maori Gully and in the Harwarden Gorge.

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were introduced from California in the 1900s for game fishing.

On 30 August 2007, the New Zealand Fish and Game Council and the New Zealand Recreational Canoeing Association (now known as Whitewater NZ) lodged an application with the Ministry for the Environment for a Water Conservation Order to protect the Hurunui River.

On 14 August 2009, the Special Tribunal considering the application recommended to the Minister that a conservation order be granted for the North Branch of the Hurunui River but not the South Branch. On 2 September, Whitewater NZ lodged an appeal of the Tribunal's decision with the Environment Court in order to include the South Branch of the Hurunui River.

The Hurunui Water Project has applied to Environment Canterbury, the regional council responsible for administering the river, for resource consents to dam the river and to take water for irrigation. The proposed scheme involves a weir that will raise the level of Lake Sumner, a dam and lake on the south branch of the river and an intake on the main stem of the river.