Brooklands Lagoon is technically a very elongated estuary near Brooklands, Christchurch. The Styx river drains into it and it is at the mouth of the Waimakariri river.[1] The Waimakariri used to drain out of Brooklands Lagoon towards the Spencer Park end. This changed when engineers dug through the sand dunes to provide a more direct course to the sea in 1930 in order to reduce the risk of flooding from the Waimakariri River. The Lagoon is protected from the Pegasus Bay (and the sea) by Brooklands Spit. To the south of it is Bottle Lake Forest and Spencer Park. The lagoon is approximately 270 hectares in size, 4.5 kilometers long and 800 meters at its widest.[2] Spring tides will bring approximately 1.6 million cubic meters of water into the lagoon.[1]
It was frequently used by the locals [citation needed] prior to the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, where most of Brooklands was red zoned[3] and effectively wiped off the map.
- ^ a b Worner, Graeme (2009). "The salt marsh plants of Brooklands Lagoon" (PDF). www.thestyx.org.nz. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- ^ "fact sheet brooklands – popular parks" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- ^ "Christchurch residential red zone areas". Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). Retrieved 21 July 2020.