WATER POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 9, 12 January 1926, Page 6

WATER POLICY.

By starting work on the enlargement of the Waitakere dam the City Council has clinched its policy of depending on the western hills for the city supply for a long while to come. The council may be right, but we are by no means satisfied that the whole question of the* sup J ply for Greater Auckland is receiving the attention it deserves. .Since the report on the Taupo scheme was published we have urged that the problem of this future supply should be considered jointly and dispassionately by all the bodies concerned. There are two main questions to be investigated. For how long can tlie Waitakeres supply Greater Auckland, and which is the better proposition financially---to go to Taupo or the Waikato now, or to postpone this work for some years and so save the interest on the difference between the cost of development in the Waitakeres and the larger cost of the Taupo scheme? In our opinion, neither of these questions has been investigated fully. The City Council is bent on developing the Waitakeres, but it is an interested party. It has already sunk a large amount of capital there, and it makes a handsome profit out of the supply. It/now proposes to spend further large sums in this region, and to retain control of the supply. It is possible, however, that before long some of the suburban bodies will go elsewhere for water, and will the council then need its augipented supply? , The development of two sources of supply may lead to serious waste. The whole situation is confused, and should be clarified. The engineers of the Taupo scheme have recommended that their report be submitted to an eminent water engineer from England, and if the scheme in some form or other goes forward, we take it that such an opinion will be obtained. If a consulting engineer visits Auckland to report on Taupo, there will certainly •be a movement to obtain his opinion on the Waitakere system. We suggest that the City Council co-operate with the promoters of the Taupo scheme with a view to obtaining an outside opinion— whether from one engineer or more— on the whole problem.