Blue Spring Te Waihou Walkway

The Te Waihou Walkway and Blue Spring is located in South Waikato near Putaruru, sort of halfway between Hamilton and Rotorua. the walk is roughly 5km (3 hour) return. The Blue Spring is internationally acclaimed for its pure water and it supplies approx 70% of New Zealand’s bottled water. The water takes around 100 years to filter through from the Mamaku Plateau, due to this the water has a high optical purity, it has a blue colour whilst being virtually clear. Pure water is intrinsically blue in hue because it absorbs red light leaving only blue and (some) green light to be transmitted to the observer’s eye. Pure natural waters are blue to blue-green in colour because they lack light absorbing constituents and particles. The water temperature is a constant 11 degrees celsius throughout the year, winter or summer. Swimming in the Blue Spring area over the 2015-16 summer period caused a significant degradation of the vegetation and environment surrounding the Blue Spring, as a