Lake Te Ku Utu (sometimes spelled Te Koo Utu and Te Koutu) is a 5.3 hectare lake situated in the heart of urban Cambridge, in the Cambridge Domain. The lake was treasured by Maori in pre-European days, taking eels, koura and fresh water from the lake, whose name translates to “ladle dipping into water”. The Domain was established in 1880. The lake was described in 1882 as “a beautiful sheet of pure spring water”, before the town sewerage began to be drained into the lake that same year. Today it is surrounded by highly modified, man-made lake edges and path, with a park of exotic species and is of high amenity value (www.cambridge.co.nz).
