WATER SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 209, 4 September 1935, Page 8

WATER SUPPLY.

HAURAKI PLAINS.

LOCAL BILL PROMOTED.

AGREEMENT WITH THAMES.

(By Telegraph.— Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, this day,

The area of the Hauraki Plains County lying between the Waihou and Piako rivers is without a satisfactory supply of water, as the waters of those rivers are not of good quality, while the supply obtained from bores is mineralised and unsuitable for stock. The only available sources of pure water lie in the Hauraki mining district and the provisions of the Mining Act, 1926, prevent the appropriation of water from a mining district for the benefit of lande outside the district.

With a view to enabling the county to obtain a pure supply a local bill-has been promoted and is to be introduced by Mr. A. M. Samuel, M.P. for Thames. It will empower the Hauraki Plains County Council to divert and impound water in certain streams in the Hauraki mining district for the purpose of supplying water to parts of the Hauraki Plains and Thames counties, and validate an agreement between the two counties in connection with the supply. Source of Supply. The source of water desired by the Hauraki Plains Council is in the Thames County, which already holds rights over the supply for domestic purposes in the form of a water race license and a dam site license granted for a nominal term of 42 years, but really in perpetuity, by virtue of the Mining Act. The two county councils have arrived at an agreement concerning the appropriations of the supply and the agreement between them is scheduled in the bill, validation of which is sought by the proposed legislation. The scheme is subject to the carrying of loan proposals after approval of the Local Government Loans Board.

Neither the Marine Department nor the Railway Department is affected in respect to the crossing of the Waihou River and the Thames-Paeroa railway, since the bill provides that the manner of crossing shall meet the requirements of such Departments respectively. A few mining claims are situated at the top of the watershed, but it is stated that there is little prospect of their beinu developed to an extent that will interfere with the water in the stream? concerned. The privileges held by the Thames County prevent the contamination of the supply by mining operations. Agriculturally Useless. The Hauraki Plains County Council considers that the main watershed is of such rugged character that it is useless from an agricultural standpoint. As far as other interests, other than mining, are concerned the application of the general legislation (the Water Supply Act, 190S) is sought with a view to placing such interests in the same position as they, occupy when not situated in a mining district.

"The legislation as to water in mining districts appears to be a survival from the past, when mining was a predominant industry," states a memorandum from the Hauraki Plains County Council, "but it is submitted that the dairying industry is now of far greater importance in the localities concerned, if not generally."