WATER SCHEME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 12

WATER SCHEME.

FIGHTING DROUGHT. BIG AUSTRALIAN PLAN. HARNESS FIVE RIVERS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 20. This has been so far the wettest January on rccord, and even the dry areas in the west and north-west portions of the State have felt the benefit of bounteous rains. But this relief, though welcome, can be only temporary, and it has not prevented the settlers and land owners who depend so completely oil the water supply from maintaining their long-continued agitation for Governm'ent help in this direction. . Droughts are part of the established order of things in our dry areas, and their regular recurrence would have made settlement and cultivation almost impossible there if it had not been for the existence of the great subterranean water supply ready to be tapped by artesian bores. But now the artesian water in this part of the State is beginning to give out. I have already given a detailed account of the situation, and a few relevant facts and figures must now suffice. In 1910 in the "great basin" 1010 bores yielded 023,000.000 gallons a day; but by 1032 it was found that 3574 bores were yielding only 372,000,000 gallons a day. This means that within 20 years the flow per bore has fallen by about 25 per cent—a rate of elimination which threatens grave disaster to the settlers on about 15,000,000 acres of land who are now chiefly dependent on this source of supply. The facts are known to everybody in the north-west, and the imminence of the danger has at last driven the patient and long-suffering "man on the land" to action. (

I At the end of last November there | was held at Narrabu, 350 miles northwest of Sydney, a conference which seems likely to mark an important epoch in the development of our baekbloeks in that part of the State. It was attended by over 200 delegates from shire councils, municipalities and other local bodies, and among those present were the Premier and four of his colleagues. The object of the conference was to discuss the possibilities of water conservation, more especially in regard to the damming of the rivers in that part of the State. It is a remarkable fact that though the dams and conservation works carried out along the Murray by the three States through which it flows have cost over £10.000,000, very little has been done on these lines to conserve the water from the large streams that drain the west and north-west sections of New South Wales. But at t.liis conference there was submitted to delegates and Ministers an elaborate scheme which, if its performance is equal its promise, should solve the water problem for these areas now and for ever.Dams on Five Rivers. The scheme is sponsored by the Asliford Shire Council, and their engineer,' Mr. Lattertlnvaite, who is responsible for it, not only knows the whole country thoroughly, but has had the advantage of long, practical experience in water conservation elsewhere. Briefly, he proposes that dams should be constructed at the headwaters of five rivers—the Nainoi, CJwydir, Macintyre, Severn and Duinaresq —"for the purpose of providing permanent water for the whole of the west and north-west and establishing livdro-electric stations to supply cheap power for the north and the tablelands." The estimated cost of the Ave dams would be £4,000,000, and the distribution system would cost from £4,000,000 to £8,000,000 besides — according to type and extent—making a total cost of from £8,000,000 to £12.000,000. The system would secure the future of at least 20,000,000 acres in all, at an estimated cost of from 10/ to 15/ per acre. But the landholder could not be expected to pay more than a small proportion of this, and the greater part of the financial burden would fall upon the State. The engineer's plans thus deal in big figures, but they were not l>ig enough to discourage his hearers. Many people besides the settlers, who are always living face to face with the drought ineaace, have come to realise that our rivers, which in flood time carry down incalculable millions of tons of water, could if properly restrained and harnessed, not only provide a permanent water supply for our country folk, but could do a great part of their work cheaply and efficiently. Premier Impressed. Those considerations had evidently impressed Mr. Stevens, for in his address to the conference he spoke encouragingly and hopefully, and appeared to be by no means overwhelmed by the prospect of such heavy Government expenditure. After reviewing the vital importance of water conservation to the future of the Commonwealth, he informed the delegates that his Government was prepared to provide £10,000 a year for five years, to meet the expense of surveying the area and investigating the practical aspects of the seheme, and lie added that the first instalment would bo available at once.

During the last two montlm the work lias already started on the preliminary stages of this great project. It happens (hat this month is particularly favourable for these investigations, for the exceptionally heavy rains have flooded all the rivers, which are thus giving a striking object-lessnn of their capacity for carrying an immense volume of water. Three of the rivers on which dams arc contemplated—the Severn, Macintvre and Dumaresq—drain hundreds of square miles of mountain country, and it is estimated that they collectively disgorge 100,000,000,000 gallons of water a year. Yet in bad seasons in these districts thousands of sheep and cattle die of thirst. Water conservation is the essential factor in'progress, and the sole guarantee for security and prosperity in the dry areas of New South Wales and South Australia.