The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1897. THE WATER SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 20, 25 January 1897, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1897. THE WATER SUPPLY.

For the cat-as that lacSa aes-ste-fics. lor the vrans that as.di raa-Staaace, For the future, in the dnrtanee. Aud the good that we oa__ (to.

The resolution of the Epsom district and the populous division of One Tree Hill district to enter into an agreement with the Onehunga Borough Council for forty years for a water supply, subject to a revision of terms at the end of twenty years, will, if carried' into effect, put an end to the proposed formation of a water trust for the whole of the isthmus. It is probable that Rernuera will join, and already the new combination has intimated its determination to compete with the city for the supply of Newmarket and Parnell.

The scheme adopted by the local boards, and which now only awaits the sanction of the ratepayers of the districts concerned to make it operative, offers great local advantages. The consumption of water in Onehunga only involves pumping (or about 36 hours per week, and even when the pumps are at work they make no appreciable diminution of the strong flow of water which gushes from the springs. Ir will be necessary for Onehunga almost immediately to improve its pumping machinery, and dissever the service main from the pipe connecting <the pumps with the One Tree Hill reservoir. When carrying out these alterations it would cost comparatively little more to erect pumps capable, if worked continuously, of supplying the adjacent suburbs. The revenue derived Irom this source, moreover, would probably pay interest on the entire cost of the new plant, including a high-level service reservoir on One Tree Hill capable oi holding half a million gallons. Alter careful calculations the Borough Council were satisfied that they could supply water at the rate of 8d per 1,000 gallons for a minimum of fifty million gallons per annum, and 66. if double that amount were consumed, and the contract with the adjacent suburbs has been made on that basis. In addition to the.cost of the water, the ne.v Trust will have to carry out their local pipe reticulation, but an abundant supply can, it is estimated, be secured to residents in the waterless districts of the isthmus by the imposition of a very small rate. '

When detailed estimates, have been made they will be submitted to tbe decision of the ratepayers. As a scheme for immediately furnishing these districts, which are now entirely dependent upon storage, with a bountiful supply of pure water at a minimum of cost, we believe the Onehunga service can compete on easy terms with all rivals. The most serious drawback to it is the danger of pollution from surface drainage percolating through the scoria, which the Onehunga Springs, equally with those from which the Auckland supply is drawu, are liable to. As population extends over the water-shed, this risk must become intensified. The water now is unquestionably pure, but how long it will remain so is beyond the power of man to tell, for we have only the vaguest idea of the sources of these springs, and the conditions affecting the passage of the water beneath the volcanic deposits. So long, however, as the primitive custom of turning house drainage into cavities ia' the scoria obtains in contaection with houses erected on volcanic land we cannot hope that .the filter bed which now gives us wttter of exceptional purity and sweetness will not sooner or later get corrupted. Then we must go further afield for our water, and only a combination of all the consumers on the isthmus can ensure a supply adequate to the requirements of the population.

We understand that the representatives of the suburban bodies who have carried on the negotiations with Onehunga have given this aspect of the question some attention, and they consider that as the chief outlay entailed upon them will consist in laying local service pipes, which must be carried out whatever scheme is adopted, they cannot go far wrong in taking advantage of a service that is immediately available, without forecasting the chances of the future. And ptobably from the view point of local interests they are right.

But in devising measures to improve the city water supply, the Council must lake into account the competition which is now making headway on the isthmus. Until it becomes absolutely necessary, city ratepayers will hesitate to sanction any scheme which involves a large addition to the rating. And this fact tends to emphasise the remarks which we made when commenting a fewdays ago upon the Mayor's proposals—that if the present supply could be supplemented at a moderate cost by bringing the Nihotapu or other near supply to its aid, it will probably be found sounder financial policy to carry out some such scheme than to enter into obligations for tbe

supply of 130,000 or 150,000 people, when the population within city boundaries is only 31,424, and the residents in adjacent districts are entering into contracts pledging themselves to draw their supply from other sources for the next forty years,