INVERCARGILL WATER SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 221, 19 September 1888, Page 3

INVERCARGILL WATER SUPPLY.

OPENING OF THE NEW WATERWORKS.

(BY telegraph, ---own correspondent. )

' Inveroaroill, this day. rji&E most ittiportarib municipal work ever undertakPii in In vercargil, whether regarded from a monetary point or Sanitary point 6 view, has feeeri tb'iS establishmtenfc of & complete scheme for providing the town with an abundant and permanent supply of water, During.the past 14 years the quostidri has been tithe after tiring discussed by the Town Council, and reports obtained from eminent engineers, but the cost always proved a barrier. On the appointment of Mr John Halliday to the position of Town Engineer, some three years ago, he prepared an, exhaustive report on providing Invercargill with an underground supply, in thb cottrse of which he iaid.: v 1 purpose, iii consideration of the present scheme, to base my calculations ona supply Of 30 gallons per head, taking 10,000 of population, to allow for future expansion ; this will- give.a total supply of 300,000. gallons per day of 24 hours; and estimating the whole to be capable of delivery in 16 hours the greatest draught will be at the rate of* 18,75() gallons per hour, or equivalent to a supply of 400,000 gallons per day. This, I consider, will be the,lowest estimate that it will be advisable to make for requirements. The quality of the proposed supply is of primary importance. In I this instance the question has been, settled l by Professor Slack, who in his report speaks most favourably of it. He stafcas- it to be v6ty much superior to Dunediri water. Organic constituents are less than balf as much as in Dunedin Supply, arid the kind of organic matter is not Of a bad ■character. .The value of thei/pumping scheme recommends itself on the point of economy of construction, for the outlay is in proportion to the existing necessities, and theiownmay be supplied by, two'or more pumping stations should the increasing population require fresh works to commence with, as they are generally in gravitation Schemes. The total length of the fetipulation in the complete of giving a pipe system through every street in the town, and & double line of mains iri all two-chains streets, is twenty-four miles." The Council, after corisideririer the report, decided to proceed with the work/under Mr Halliday's supervision. 'Tenders were accordingly called iri Great Britain for pumping engines arid water mains. Those of Glenfield Co. for the former, and of Jukes, Coulsin arid Co. for the latter, were accepted; and Anderson and Morrison, of Dunsdiri, obtained .the contract for laying the water mains.- The settling up .of the engineer has just Been accomplished, and Anderson and Morrison have. alßo completed the laying 'of mains, Shaw and McLeod are busy erecting a brick engine house, while tenders for the supply bf specially-prepared bricks of-local manufacture for the tower ha,ve been accepted, and the contract for its erectiori will be let at an early date. Tenders for a tank have already been received, and will be considered at the Council meeting on Thursday. From a test iriade the supply appears to be a bountiful arid never-failing one.v The works, which have .cost thirty thousand pounds, were formally opened by the Mayor tfl-?day, arid h^riceforW'ard citi-ieris vrfll havP in tho driest seasons plenty of ■Water for' household arid fire-extinguishing purposes,. -/ . _ ...',. ...*...... .