At the beginning of the 20th Century, Auckland was running out of drinking water. Arthur Mead, a Civil Engineer with the Auckland City Council, personally undertook land surveying of the bush clad the Waitakere Ranges and selected sites for a string of future water supply dams.
Over the next decade, water supply dams at Waitakere and Upper Nihotupu were built in the locations chosen by Mead. In later decades several more dams were to be built in other locations selected by Mead.
Mead also had a strong love of the Waitakeres, and was one of our earliest conservationists - long before it became a mainstream ideal. He was instrumental in lobbying for the creation of the park status in the Waitakere Ranges, and was Secretary of the resulting Centennial Park Board in 1944.
He is commemorated by the annually presented Arthur Mead Environmental Award. This award is made available to Auckland Civil Engineers whose engineering work best exemplifies care for, and consideration of, environmental values.
Nihotupu Auxiliary Reservoir was constructed to alleviate a water shortfall until the much larger Upper Nihotupu Dam was completed in 1923. Despite the almost temporary nature of the dam, it remained in service for over half a century. In the 1980's the dam failed a Safety Evaluation of Existing Dams (SEED) analysis, and was permanently decommissioned in 1986.
Even for those familiar with the park, this area is infrequently visited. It's a short walk along a metalled access road, with lots of birdlife and regenerating forest.
The track starts at S 36° 56.191' E 174° 33.398', and there is some parking here. Better parking is 100 metres down the road, but the Piha Road has fast moving traffic. Other than that, the area is childsafe.
You are looking for a 2 litre plastic click-clack box painted green.