POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE WATER SUPPLY?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 59, 2 March 1949, Page 5

POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE WATER SUPPLY?

Councillors Make J Inspection Tour Headed by Cr G. H. Warren, a group of Borough Councillors and others interested, trekked into the back country behind 1 White Pine Bush on Sunday to look over the possibilities of a possible alternative water supply scheme to the one already suggested for the Borough. Ad--1 vantages would be clear water brought to the town by gravitation.

To guage the possibilities from a technical point of view the expedition was accompanied by Mr W. S. Henderson, Borough foreman engineer, Mr C. H. Brebner, County engineer, and Mr B. Shaw, an engineer from the Board Mills. Mr G. Stenhouse, who has personal knowledge of the country in that locality, led the way with Mr Warren. The stream from which it is thought possible a water supply might be obtained feeds from a high catchment area and is reputed to run strong and fairly full at most seasons of the year. Mr Warren, having inspected it earlier this year and reported its possibilities to the Council, wanted to have another look at it now when it is likely to be its lowest, and took a number of ■his colleagues with him so that they would have first hand knowledge of the locality when next the Council discusses the proposal. Crs C. S. Armstrong, R. S. Buttimore, A. D. O’Rourke, E. R. Dillicar and K. Needham made the trip, accompanied by the Town Clerk, Mr L. D. Lovelock, those others already mentioned and a representative of the Beacon. Natural Dam Site A spot some 10 miles south west of Whakatane where a natural dam site to deepen an existing rock pool into a reservoir suggests itself was selected as probably the best place from which to start calculations, and all hands agreed that something could be done, but the question is whether or not it would be an economic proposition and whether or not -the supply would be sufficiently certain to justify what must involve substantial expense. There is no doubt of the quality of water, and the fall would be sufficient to pipe it to the town along a suggested route the party inspected on the way home. However, it would seem a lot of technical detail would need to be examined carefully before the idea became Borough policy.