It is situated around 33 kilometres east of Hamilton and 22 kilometres west of Te Aroha, close to the banks of the Piako River and Waitakaruru Stream.

Beyond this lie the Hauraki Plains, drained by the Waihou River and the Piako River.

It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako, the former of which was formerly named the Thames River, and the town of Thames lies on its southeastern coast.

In its lower reaches, the river and the nearby Piako River form the wide alluvial Hauraki Plains.

The Piako River near Ngatea

The Piako River is a lowland river system that drains into the Firth of Thames on the North Island of New Zealand.

The Piako River has an annual mean flow of 17 m < sup > 3 </ sup > s < sup >− 1 </ sup > ( at Paeroa-Tahuna Road ), with a total catchment area of approximately 1, 440 km < sup > 2 </ sup >.

On the boundary of Morrinsville, the Waitakaruru Stream, which drains the northwestern Te Miro-Tahuroa Hills, converges with the Piako River.

As it progresses north, the Piako River is feed by small streams draining the eastern slopes of the Maungakawa Hills.

The Waitoa River catchment drains the Hinuera Flats and broad southern Hauraki Plains, before converging with the Piako River in the large wetland known as the Kopuatai Peat Dome, northeast of Tahuna.

The Upper Piako River catchment also drains the eastern aspects of the Hapuakohe Range through small tributaries.

Since the 1930s, considerable flood protection measures have been undertaken on the Piako River and surrounding catchment, especially mainly north of Paeroa-Tahuna Road and the Kopuatai Peat Dome.

* 50 year protection from Piako River flooding with 0. 3m freeboard

The original Piako River Bridge was built in Ngatea and opened in 1917.

In the earliest days all transport or access to and from the land was either by sea, river or canal, but with the first roads being developed, it was essential that a bridge be built over the Piako River so it could become a main route between Auckland and Tauranga.

de: Piako River

nn: Piako River

Ngatea lies on the Piako River, eight kilometres south of its outflow into the Firth of Thames.

The alluvial plains have been built up by sediment deposited by the Piako and Waihou Rivers, which flow north to reach the sea at the Firth of Thames, and earlier by the ancestral Waikato River.

After the last shift of the Waikato River back to the west coast, the Waihou and Piako Rivers were formed.

Control works in the floodplain of the Piako River played a big role in the draining of the Hauraki PlainsWork started immediately after the passing of the Hauraki Plains Act.

The Piako River, which overflowed at least once a year, needed stop banks constructed to prevent flood and tidal overflow.

Before the arrival of the European settlers the Hauraki Plains was 400 km² of peat and swamp land which acted as a big ponding area, through which ran two main rivers-the Waihou and Piako.

Quote – “ It was undoubtedly the waters of the Firth, Piako and Waihou that gave access to the plains for human enterprise and settlement for both Māori and Pakeha ” – Ruffus Tye ( Hauraki Plains Story ).

He replaced his father Jack Luxton, who held the seat of Piako then Matamata for 21 years from 1966, and had been Chairman of Committees in Parliament.

Given this, the Toenepi Stream-a small sub-catchment of the Piako River-has been extensively used to research the impact of intensive farming on water quality.

But, once a year the Waihou and Piako Rivers would overflow, making agricultural settlement of the area difficult because of the poor drainage.

The Piako River is much smaller than the Waihou, but it was just as important in the development of the Hauraki Plains.

Travelling up the Piako you would see Pipiroa, then Ngatea, both on the right, followed by Kerepehi, and the last town accessible by boat was Patetonga.

Communist guerrillas recently have been reported increasing their activities and the great flood of the Mekong River has interposed a new crisis.

The commission, meeting for the first time with both of its newly-appointed commissioners, Roy Webster, of Hood River, and Dr. Ennis Keizer, of North Bend, approved a year's contract for a consultant in the data processing department who has been the center of considerable controversy in the past.

However, the Mobile River system has a high incidence of endemism among freshwater mollusks and biodiversity is high.

The navigation of the Tallapoosa River –- which has its source in Paulding County, Georgia, and is about long -– is prevented by shoals and a fall at Tallassee, a few miles north of its junction with the Coosa.

The Alabama River has three lock and dams between Montgomery and the Mobile River.

From the time that the earliest English-speaking settlers arrived, the area has also been known as The Forks, because it is situated at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Kalamazoo River.

The village has superb views over the River Severn and Newport to the south.

However, not everyone appreciates his work and River Landscape ( 1660 ), despite being widely regarded as amongst his best work, has been described as having " chocolate box blandness ".

Located in northeastern Germany on the River Spree, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has 6 million residents from over 180 nations.

The arch of the Friedensbrücke, which was built in the same year, has the span of and crosses the valley of the Syrabach River.

The 6th Riverine District has its headquarters in Ladário, near Corumbá on the Paraguay River.

River blindness has been eliminated from the region.

The farthest headwaters of the Nile, the Ruvyironza River, has its source in Burundi.

Boone has the highest elevation of any town of its size ( over 10, 000 population ) east of the Mississippi River.

Unusual Films has produced seven feature-length films: Wine of Morning, Red Runs the River, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, Beyond the Night, The Printing, and Milltown Pride.

Chad has been an active champion of regional cooperation through the Central African Economic and Customs Union, the Lake Chad and Niger River Basin Commissions, and the Interstate Commission for the Fight Against the Drought in the Sahel.

River traffic on the Oubangui River is impossible from April to July, and conflict in the region has sometimes prevented shipments from moving between Kinshasa and Bangui.

Main inland waterways are the Magdalena – Cauca River system, which is navigable for 1, 500 kilometers ; the Atrato, which is navigable for 687 kilometers ; the Orinoco system of more than five navigable rivers, which total more than 4, 000 kilometers of potential navigation ( mainly through Venezuela ); and the Amazonas system, which has four main rivers totaling 3, 000 navigable kilometers ( mainly through Brazil ).

The Merchandise Mart, once first on the list of largest buildings in the world, and still listed as 20th, has its own ZIP code, and stands near the junction of the North and South branches of the Chicago River.

Evidence of Archaic Indian burial mounds and other ceremonial sites existing in the St. John River valley has been uncovered.

Since then it has been eroding, creating dramatic incised valleys, and providing the sediment that gives the Yellow River its yellow color and that causes the flooding of the river in the lower reaches ( hence the river's nickname ' China's sorrow ').

A north-south division has traditionally existed, with the River Liffey as the divider.

In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north.