CITY WATER SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Issue 38, 14 February 1929, Page 10

CITY WATER SUPPLY.

PROGRESS AT HUIA.

HUGE DAM HALF FINISHED

CITY COUNCIL INSPECTION,

There lias been no fear of Auckland going "dry"' this summer. Streams dammed in the Waitakcre Ranges to supply the city's water demands are still running at their normal seasonal level, and there is a plentiful supply in the Waitakere and Nihotupu reservoirs to meet all needs. The future requirements also appear to be assured as the City Council is pushing ahead steadily with a progressive scheme for extending its reservoirs. I he Huia scheme, commenced only in -March of last year, just after the community had experienced the disadvantages ot a water scarcity, is assuming definite proportions. Indeed, should the emergency arise, it is possible for the council to draw on the new source -of supply. In the absence of an acute summer-demand, however, the surplus water is being utilised to generate electricity for the Huia camp, and to enable a double shift to be worked on the dam itself.

The Mayor (Mr. (Jeorge BaildonK accompanied by members of the Works and Water Works Committees, paid a visit of inspection to the Huia construction works yesterday, and were impressed with the progress that has been made in less than twelve months. Already the bounding stream—it is picturesque for its 24 waterfalls—h«*s been tamed. The huge dam, stretching across a gully at a point just below a natural basin, has reared its head above the level of the stream bed to a height of 70 feet. Fifty feet of water have banked up behind the structure, which" io half completed. Work on the dam goes on almost unremittingly. To date. 19.000 yards of concrete have been put into it, and it is estimated that a further IS.OOO yards remain to be laid. When the scheme is. finished, some time late in the present year, it will increase the storagjj capacity of the water supply by .">00.000,000 gallons, and make the total capacity of the three dams. Waitakere, N'ihotupu. and Huia. l,r,0O.OO0 : or.0 gallons.

The project of utili-ing the Huia as a source of water supply was first seriously considered in 1013, when the City Council engineers made surveys of all tlic streams of the Waitakere Kanges

lying south and west of Nihotupu for the purpose of ascertaining the ultimate quantity of water available from the ranges. In the Huia the survey was carried a little further, as it was realised that this would be the lirst stage of any subsequent scheme of extension. Sites were tentatively fixed for dams and the capacity of proposed reservoirs approximately ascertained. The preliminary investigations indicated that the Huia Valley would require to be developed in two main stages, and it was the lirst section of the scheme that the councillors visited yesterday. The area of catchment intercepted by the gravitation scheme is 2040 acres, and' the lake will ultimately spread over 53 acres.

Later the party travelled from the dam by the light railway that has been constructed to convey materials to the site, to Huia Bay, on the Manukau Harbour. and en route were shown the proposed site of the second Huia dam, some two miles below the structure now beijag erected. They then proceeded to the filtration stations at Titirangi. and had the system of purifying the water from the various dams before being released

into the main, explained to th< :n. From a commanding position at Macky's Rest, the parly overlooked the proposed site of the Lower Niho|.upu dam, and the line >tretch of uiu'ulating country that has been purchased to provide a catchment- area til Connection with the scheme.

"The citizens do not realise the niagni tude of the water undertaking.'' com

mentcd a councillor (hiring the course of the inspection in suggesting that a day -hotild lie set apart when an excursion could be made to the Huia dam. The possibility of tilmiijp 1 lie general undertaking was generally discussed.