 Legend says that the lake was named as such because when Ihenga first saw it, he was only able to see a small part of it and thought the lake was a lot smaller.Since the 1960s, the quality of lake water has been negatively affected by inflows of nitrogen rich water from Lake Rotorua, agricultural run-off from surrounding farms and seepage from domestic septic tanks.The effects of this included an almost permanent algal bloom in the Okere arm of the lake and choking lake weed growth in other still areas of the lake.