SHORTAGE OF WATER

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21034, 9 December 1933, Page 11

SHORTAGE OF WATER

— •SI lil ÜB.AN f ARMERS CONCERNED Shortage of water is causing concern in some of the agricultural districts in the vicinity of the city. Owing to the exceptionally dry season and the consequent lack of water, residents of the Heathcote Valley and of Horotane have been asked by the Heathcote County Council to use water for domestic purposes onlv. The supply for the valleys is drawn from Lyttelton, where a similar request to residents was made recently by the Lyttelton Borough Council. The position is not serious, it is stated, but if the present dry weather continues much longer it is likely to cause considerable concern. The shortage is felt particularly keenly in the valleys, where market gardeners are dependent to a great extent on the water supply. Papanui Creek Dry. Lack of- water in the Papanui creek is also causing anxiety for many farmers and market gardeners in Harewood. More than a year ago the creek went dry during the winter, and residents became alarmed about the prospects of having no water for their stock in the summer. It was then decided to deviate the water-race on Russley road into the creek, the farmers agreeing to pay for the use of the water at the rate of £1 a year; but coinciding with a rise in the Waimakariri river, the Papanui creek began to flow again in October of last year. Throughout last summer and until a fortnight ago there was plenty of water in the cree'-. but now it is again dry, and the farmers in Harewood are faced with a serious shortage of water lor their stock.