IRRIGATION WORK DELAYED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23299, 8 April 1941, Page 6

IRRIGATION WORK DELAYED

Loss of a Season’s Water

RANGITATA SCHEME

Although the completion of the Rangitata diversion scheme may M delayed only a few months by the disorganisation caused by the war tne delay will mean that water will not be available for the 1941-42 irrigation season, said Mr T. G. Beck, district engineer to the Public Works Department in an interview with a reporter of “The Press” yesterday. The project was originally expected to, be completed before the end of the Present year but the continual drain on staff, the difficulty of obtaining materials, and the delays caused by the necessity of experimenting with substitutes, have all slowed up the work. 'Mr Beck, however, is hopeful that the whole of the great project, which involves the diversion of a large part of the Rangitata river across the head of the Canterbury plains to the Rakaia river, where surplus water will be used for the generation of electricity will be completed within 12 or ia months. Excavation of the mam race, 42 miles long, and the necessary earthwork, will probably be finished by the end of the year, the building of the giant structures which will carry the water over or under the natural obstacles of the country are expected to be finished by next April, and tne, power-house at Highbank, with its big penstocks, should be completed within another three months from then. ■ The factory at Surrey Hills, where giant concrete pipes for siphons and tunnels are being built, has been slow to reach its full productive capacity, mainly because of the difficulty curing staff, Mr Beck said. There were now 75 men on the job, and five of the huge concrete pipes could be cast in one day. About 400 feet of the Surrey Hills siphon has now bean 'built from the great concrete pipes, 12 feet in internal diameter and 12 feet long, Fifteen or 16 more pipes are }n various stages of construction. About 20 of the 11-foot pipes, which are to be used to siphon the diversion rape beneath rivers, have, also been cast. Construction of Concrete Intake

Another of the biggest parts of the job, the construction of the concrete intake at the Rangitata gorge, is also proceeding satisfactorily, and some time next month the huge concrete caissons will be floated into position in the river-bed. Six of these caissons, hollow-like concrete ships, are being built in a deep excavation, which will be flooded to enable the structures to be towed into place.

From the Methven racecourse to Highbank is the last length of excavation to be done, and the department is now concentrating on this and the extensive earthwork necessary between Staveley and Mount Somers. The at Highbank is being built in an excavation in the Rakaia river-bed. and construction has nearly reached the stage where it can go on without the necessity for puxpplng out water. f