LARGE DRAINAGE OPERATIONS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20024, 4 September 1930, Page 9

LARGE DRAINAGE OPERATIONS.

♦ FLOODED LAND AT TAI TAPU. PUMPING COMMENCED. Lying under from 40 to 45 million gallons of water, a large expanse of splendid pastoral land near Tai Tapu has been effectively flooded to an average depth oi 12 inches, since the heavy downpour o£ rain which occurred' uur ing me recent, floous. YViiat snouid oe souu3 at tne uiitisi, son in uaui/eruiirj Has Deen thus <usd up till tae present uirougn tiie maDility of tlie water to urain away; but tue erection o£ a iaige floud pump aurmg tne iasi tew days is exyeuica to clear the area for cultivation in the snort space of ten days. The land, whica lies adjacent to tne Tai Tapu township, is low-iying, and practically every year suitors iium a certain amount oi liooum&, jjre»euuu a its continuous use as pastoral ground. This year, with the particularly Heavy flood, the water would.not dry away until about Christmas, for its level is almost as low as that of Lake Ellesmere, and, drainage is a long process. The drainage ot the area has been a cause of concern for some time to those interested in the district, and the owners of the main part affected arranged for the installation of a flood pump, which will permanently cope with any flood waters. The pump, which is the first of its kind to be used in the South Island, is of New Zealand design and manufacture, having been made in the Auckland works of Messrs J. B. MacEwan and Co.' It is of a centrifugal type, capable of being coupled to any motive power available. On the Tai Tapu farm it is lifting the water seven feet over abank into the main drain, and is directly coupled to a ten horse-power vertical spindle motor, which in turn is controlled by a float switch. The plant is entirely automatic in its operation. When the level of the water rises, the float switch closes and starts the motor, the process being reversed when the water recedes.

Approximately 180 acres of land are now being drained at the rate of 130,000 gallons of water an hour, and it is expected that the area will be clear in approximately ten days. The water is being pumped through wide leads into the Halswell river and thence to Lake Ellesmere and the drainage operations of the past two days have been watched by numbers of people who have travelled to see the pump in operation. An owner of land in the district stated to a representative of The Press yesterday that a new era in the drainage of that area was being openod by this means of pumping away the water on a large scale. The pumps had been used in many places in the North Island, and by building protective works and laying drains when the work was completed land was permanently freed from the heaviest of floods.

Messrs J3rown Bros., electrical engiaeers, «ce installing the prewafc plant,