A COUNTRY WATER SUPPLY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21341, 7 December 1934, Page 12

A COUNTRY WATER SUPPLY

I /.MJ'KOVK.ME.VT DESIRED AT VIEW IMI.I, i The need for improved water ■ supply arrangements for no View j Hill plains, Oxford, was brought j before the Canterbury Chamber of ! Commerce at its meeti'g last evening by a letter from the Oxford j branch of the New Zealand Far- ; mers' Union. The lettt • stated: "The present su >ly is for drink- : mi.; purposes, and comes from I the river Eyre. This supply is prej carious, insufficient, and in dry j seasons uncertain. The catchment j area is (he hilly country at j View Hill. There is a forest reserve and also a County Council I reserve that is more or less in bush, and to that extent there is an amount of water conservation. "It is clear, however, that should the bush be destroyed, or the forest ! door removed—and these are conjtinuous possibilities—the water sup- ' ply for race purposes would be so j sadly inadequate as to be almost ' useless. i Taking Water from Waimakariri ; "A proposal is put forward for a more certain and more adequate supply, and in time for an irrigation supply from tin- Waimakariri. From the. point of view of the landowners this is likely to be costly. The time seems opportune, however, for an investigation of the position." In asking for the assistance of the chamber in improving the position the following points were stated:— (1) The present supply is inadequate. (2) To increase it from the present source would be costly and probably not sufficiently successful. (3) There is constant danger of the whole supply petering out. (4) The destruction of the bush would be ruinous. (5) The source from which an adequate and permanent supply could be obtained is the Waimakariri. (6) The initial cost, especially for headworks, would be high. The matter was referred to the irrigation committee of the chamber.