BIG ORDER FOR PIPES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22592, 23 December 1938, Page 8

BIG ORDER FOR PIPES

Downs Water Supply Scheme

CONTRACT WORTH £20,000 PLACED IN ENGLAND

(THE PRESS Special Service.! WELLINGTON, December 22. An order for approximately 1000 tons of galvanised steel pipes has been placed with an English firm by the Public Works Department. The pipes are required for the South Canterbury downs water supply scheme, and constitute the largest individual order ever placed by New Zealand for this class of goods. The value of the order is about £20,000. The scheme embraces other contracts of equal magnitude. The total cost of the undertaking is estimated at £270,000. The plan, which is well under way, is to provide a reliable water supply of the highest quality for stock and domestic purposes for about 154,000 acres of downs, extending over portions of four counties. The area will be bounded in the north by the Kakahu river in the Geraldine County; in the west by high hills in the Levels and Mackenzie Counties; in the south by the Otaio river in the Waimate County, and in the east by the sea. Water will be available throughout this area for lands varying in elevation from 900 feet down to sea level. Included within the area to be served are several small centres of population such as Cave, Gleniti, Pareora, and the Pleasant Point town district.

The total length of pipe required is close on 700 miles, of which approximately 630 miles will be smaller than three inches in diameter. A considerable portion of the larger pipes are being made in New Zealand. The intake will be situated on the Tengawai river, about six miles upstream from Albury, at an elevation of 1062 feet above the sea. At this point the stream is confined in a rocky gorge about 40 feet deep. The pipeline will have a commencing diameter of 13 inches, and will follow alongside the Tengawai river past Albury to McClelland’s bridge, a few miles below Cave, where the first bifurcation will take place. At this point a branch pipe will extend in a northerly direction to the Geraldine County. The main pipe will continue through the Tycho district to the high downs near Claremont. Another branch will extend from Claremont by way of the Pareora ford to the Pareora riding in the Waimate County. Numerous other branches will take off from sub mains, so as completely to reticulate the district.

An allowance of four gallons an acre each day for stock has been made in determining the pipe sizes, and 25 gallons a head of population. In the case of the Pleasant Point Town District, an allowance of 38L gallons a head^ol

population has been made. This amount provides for an adequate fire-fighting service for the town. , . J The scheme is expected to take about three years to complete. Half the cost is to be borne by the Government, and the other half by local authorities in proportion to the amount of work-in each area, . _ ■