Largest lakes & reservoirs in South Island, NZ by water volume
The estimated volume of water that a lake contains is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. By this measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Siberia’s Lake Baikal.Water Volume can be measured in acre-feet, in cubic miles, or in cubic kilometers. One acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot. One cubic mile equals 3,379,200 acre-feet. One cubic kilometer equals 810,713 acre-feet. 1 acre-foot is equal to 325,851 US gallons. Siberia’s Lake Baikal contains about 6,276,367,740,000,000 gallons of freshwater – nearly 1 million gallons for every living person on earth.
The other – and more widely used – measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s surface acreage. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is North America’s Lake Superior.
Note: In the United States, an acre foot is a unit of volume used to refer to large-scale bodies of water. It is defined by the volume of water needed to cover 1 acre of surface area to a depth of 1 foot.
You can find many of the the world’s largest lakes (by water volume) on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, the water volume data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 17 articles we have published for South Island, NZ lakes.
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Below are lakes within New Zealand > South Island, NZ > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in South Island, NZ, only the 17 South Island, NZ lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Pukaki, New Zealand (Christchurch - Canterbury Region, South Island, NZ, New Zealand, South Island, NZ) |
3,777,924 ac-ft | Lake Pukaki in the Canterbury region of the South Island is a scenic delight. One of three glacial lakes that lie nearly parallel, the lake gets water… |
| Lake Ohau, New Zealand (Marlborough Region, South Island, NZ, New Zealand, South Island, NZ) |
3,259,067 ac-ft | Lake Ohau, in the Mackenzie Basin of the Waitaki District, South Island is an often overlooked lake and mountain paradise. The smallest of three paral… |
| Lake Brunner, New Zealand (New Zealand, South Island, NZ, West Coast Region, South Island, NZ) |
1,833,023 ac-ft | Moana Kotuku is what the Maori call Lake Brunner, naming it after the beautiful and rare white herons (kotuku) sometimes seen on the lake’s shores. Th… |
| Lake Tekapo, New Zealand (Christchurch - Canterbury Region, South Island, NZ, New Zealand, South Island, NZ) |
490,000 ac-ft | Lake Tekapo is located in the center of South Island, New Zealand. Known for its intense turquoise hue, the lake stays that color because of “rock flo… |
| Lake Waihola, New Zealand (Central Otago Region, South Island, NZ, New Zealand, South Island, NZ) |
5,909 ac-ft | Located on New Zealand’s South Island, Lake Waihola is situated in a quiet region that makes a peaceful retreat. Almost 4 miles long, the lake is very… |
