AUCKLAND'S SEWERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 190, 11 August 1921, Page 4

AUCKLAND'S SEWERS.

EXTENSIVE DRAINAGE SCHEME! NEARING COMPLETION. The fact that Auckland appreciates the value of good drainage is demonstrated in the city scheme for dealing with sewage, which is now nearing completion, after about twelve years' labour. The chief point in the scheme is to cope with the large areas along the -waterfront, where it has been found impossible to carry off drainage by gravitation. Incidentally, the Council aims at keeping the harbour clean, and as pure as possible. Therefore, in constructing the new drainage system the authorities have had to provide a means of propelling the sewage along the mains to a point of discharge were the waters of the 'harbour would be least affected. At the-prcsent time the work is so far advanced that the scheme is practically in full working order. Here and there, in Custom's Street, for example, 'workmen are busy making the final connections with the drains from adjacent buildings which comply with the by-laws, and it is anticipated that within IS months the whole job will be completed. The scheme, it is said, is the most ambitious ever attempted in the Dominion, involving, as it has done, the re-laying of practically all the main sewers in the city during its progress, the estimated cost being somewhere in the neighbourhood of £250,000. Originally there was a proposal to carry all the sewage back to a high level, where, after being screened and treated, it Could be discharged into deep water up the harbour. This, hotwever, was thought to be unsatisfactory, and the present project was favoured for various reasons, perhaps the chief being that the outfall was fixed at Orakei. The main sewer stretches from Orakei to Point Chevalier, throwing off many •branches in all directions, these in turn connecting with lesser drains. From the Mental Hospital at Point Chevalier the sewage gravitates to the outfall, but until recently it wais not possible to deal with the low-lying levels. These are now connected to pumping stations in various places, two of these stations .being underground, namely those in Anzac Avenue and Farnham Street. Parnell. The two above ground are at Gittos Street and Harding Street. These pumping stations lift the sewage up into the gravitation sewer, forcing it to a descending main through which it travels to Orakei. The main arterial sewer and its principal branches are under the control of the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board, while the smaller reticulation is under the control of the city engineer. Mr. W. E. Bush.