We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.

Largest lakes & reservoirs in West Coast Region, 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 3 articles we have published for West Coast Region, South Island, NZ lakes.

Thinking about booking a West Coast Region, South Island, NZ lake vacation home rental, cabin or hotel?

Use our free interactive vacation rental map to search and compare multiple vacation properties at a glance. Enter a lake name, a state or city and then simply click on a listing to compare all similar properties, best rates and availability for your dates.

Search results: Sort lakes by water volume


Below are lakes within New Zealand > South Island, NZ > West Coast Region, South Island, NZ > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in West Coast Region, South Island, NZ, only the 3 West Coast Region, South Island, NZ lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.