SUVA'S GATER SUPPLY.
A DANGEROUS SITUATION. ONLY A HALF DAY'S SUPPLY. (From Our Special Correspondent.) SUVA, March 21. For some time the "Fiji Times" has been warning the Government and people of the menace hanging over Suva because of the condition of her water supply. It remained for the Coinmis- | sinner nf Works (Mr. W. B. Lees), who j recently came from Ceylon and who lis a very abl. engineer, to make the situation so clear that people are "siti ting up" in alarm at the prospect of ! calamity which is facing them, a prosj pect much more serious than the fear of a hurricane. 1 Tlie supply, while excellent in its way, ! |i- faulty, because the damp climate has I played havoc with the mains, and I because there is no provision for any extraordinary happening such as a j cloudburst at the intake o. a land slide, or a month's drought. The present reservoirs hold only about half a day's supply in reserve. Mr. Lees has just made the following very alarming statements: That leas I water is being delivered to-day than in 1 l!t04. because of leaky mains: that there i is only half a day's reserve; that in the .event of a big fire there would be no I water available to put it out: and that lin the event of a cloudburst or land-, slide at the head of the system Suva would be without any water at all. He had made a full report on the situation . to the tlovernment, and urged the exca- ; vation in the solid soapstone of a reservoir capable ol" containing a month's I supply. ! As our sewerage system is wholly depcrdent on a liberal supply of water it ''•an be easily imagined how quickly j trouble would ensue in the sanitary service, and in a climate like Suva's a stoppage of the sewerage system would mean a, terrible pestilence. It is hoped that the C'overiior, who arrives from | England on Saturday, will bring a big j loan with him to enable the work to be undertaken, as the colony's finances at j present, cannot provide the necessary | funds. I
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19220327.2.31
Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1922, Page 4
Word Count
360SUVA'S GATER SUPPLY. Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1922, Page 4
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Auckland Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries.
Log in