OAMARU WATER SUPPLY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22491, 27 August 1938, Page 3

OAMARU WATER SUPPLY

Power House Blamed

HOUSEHOLDERS COMPLAIN

OF SHORTAGE

Complaints received from householders living on the hills in Oamaru, of a shortage of water during the periods in which the Waitaki Electric Power Board was drawing from the borough supply, were discussed at a conference between-representatives of the board and the Oamaru Borough Council, on Thursday afternoon. The conference agreed that the solution of the shortage was the provision of tanks for those affected. An investigation will be made of the cost of a scheme to assure a steady supply of water to householders in the highest parts of the town. This will be undertaken during the next few months and the question will again be considered at the end of the present financial year. A report prepared by the engineer to the Power Board, Mr I. Dalmer, suggested that "some simple storage" provided for each residence affected would meet the position. Both the Power Board and the Borough Council represented the same ratepayers, and there was the same community of interests between the two bodies which it did not want to destroy, said the Mayor (Mr L. J. K Familton), who presided. At the present time the borough council had numerous complaints from residents on the hills that they could not get water in the mornings and afternoons because of the draw off by the power house.

"If we did not supply the power board with water the charges for electricity would go up for the users of the district," he continued. The conference should try to come to an arrangement concerning the water pressure on the hills, and reconsider the agreement which had been made between the council and the power board 14 years ago.

"Running to Waste"

The chairman of the board, Mr James McDiarmid, said that the power board admitted that some householders had suffered a temporary and intermittent shortage of water at different times Generally speaking water was running to waste at some period of the day and this could be adjusted by a reserve supply. "When the Power Board is on some of the residents on the higher parts of the town are not able to get water at all." said the Mayor. "Do you think we are being compensated bv the payfent of £2OO for water to keep down your peak load when you charge us £l4 more than that amount for pumping the water to the higher levels?" "I think the pr«wer board should supply the people on the higher levels with tanks." said the Mayor, later in the discussion. "This would help to meet the shortage while water is being taken by the board. The members of the council are not satisfied with the present arrangements that we have with the board." Mr Dalmer stated that the council should obtain the number of consumers who had been affected. The power board could then investigate the cost of assuring these ratepayers of a steady supply of water. The board was always blamed for the shortage of water and it had understood that the Mayor had issued an ultimatum that the water supply to the power station would be cut off on March 31.

The Mayor denied that any such ultimatum had been issued. It had been stated at the council meeting that such a step might be necessary unless some arrangement could be made to supply the ratepayers affected with water.

PERSONAL NOTES

OAMARU

Mr W. J. Gillies, who was recently elected to represent the Moeraki riding on the Waitaki County Council, was welcomed at the council's monthly meeting yesterday. The vacancy was caused through the recent death of the former representative, Mr R. A. Walker, Mr Gillies' nomination being the only one received for the position. Motions of sympathy with the relatives of Mr R. A. Walker, a former member of the Waitaki County Council, and of Mr G. L. Cuthbertson, the former county engineer, were passed at the monthly meeting in Oamaru yesterday. The chairman of the council (Mr James Rodman) expressed appreciation of the services of both men to the county.