DOWNLANDS WATER SUPPLY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22340, 2 March 1938, Page 5

DOWNLANDS WATER SUPPLY

PRELIMINARY WORK TO BEGIN THIS WEEK IMPROVEMENTS EXPECTED FROM SCHEME Preleminary work on the Downlands water supply scheme is to start this week. Mr T. G. Beck, Irrigation Engineer to the Public Works Department at Temuka, said yesterday that the first jobs to be done were the erection of accommodation, storage for the pipes, the preparation of specifications for the pipe-lines, and the gathering of survey information to supplement that already on record. He has received instructions to proceed with the work.

Mr A. J. Davey, of Waitohi Valley, chairman of the Downlands Investigation Committee, said, when he was told that the work was to be gin immediately, that he thought it was a splendid scheme, that was going to meet a very real need. ‘‘l would even say that I think it is meeting a need that should have been met before that for electricity, and is really more important than the plan of the Timaru Harbour Board to put South Canterbury on the map.” "It will" serve the requirements of both stock and household in an area which has had no regular supply of fresh water in the past, and where farms have had to rely upon the winter catchment to carry them over the summer. so that in a dry summer the' water sometimes gave out entirely, and in some cases became so dirty as to be a breeding ground for all sorts of enemies to the health of stock,” said Mr Davey. Homesteads had had to rely on one 400-gallon tank, and families had suffered more than inconvenience over washing. Heavy losses of stock had been experienced, and in some cases horses had died. “I believe much of the trouble with parasites in sheep, and more particularly lambs, was caused by lack of fresh water,” he said, “and this, of course, will be avoided.”

Improvement to Domestic Service A still greater benefit would be derived from the domestic service, which would supply every home in the area at a very low cost with water of very high quality, for, Mr Davey said, the source, the Tengawai stream, contained particularly pure water, and in flood time an automatic device would prevent discoloured water from entering the system of pipes. “Country homes that will enjoy the supply will for the first time in the history of South Canterbury be on a par with city dwellers as far as a water supply is concerned. “In Pleasant Point township there will be enough water at a sufficiently high pressure to provide an up-to-date fire-figbting service, and an underground drainage system to fulfil the wants of twice as many as are served to-day.” The whole scheme would tend to raise the capital value of the land and improve the equity the settlers have on their holdings. It would allow of closer settlement than is practicable at present, if ever the need should arise, and put the district in a position to compete in commercial production with other areas which already have a supply of fresh water. “The assistance offered by the Government is very substantial, and it is a very generous one that may not readily be repeated. No scheme undertaken could do more to raise the living conditions as well as the productive capacity of the land as much as this will do’” Mr Davey concluded. The shortage of surveyors, recently reported in “The Press,” would no doubt affect the progress of the work to some extent, according to Mr Beck, but it is thought that surveyors will be obtainable from other works in the district, and meanwhile the preliminary construction work will be going ahead.