WATER FOR THE CITY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24987, 23 September 1946, Page 3

WATER FOR THE CITY

BIG DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME SUPPLY PROBLEMS HINDER PROGRESS As rapidly as the present shortages of pipes and other materials will allow, the Christchurch City Council is now overtaking the programme of waterworks development which was delayed by the war and which has become more urgent with the recent growth within the city jind the extension of the city's boundaries. The whole city will benefit from this work, but no area will benefit more than the suburbs and small areas that have joined the city by amalgamation. Many of these have had an indifferent supply and an expensive one. The City Council plans, in the next few years, to make the high-pressure city supply available to all. An outline of what is involved in the scheme and the progress that has so far been made was given yesterday by Mr A. H. Jecks, City Waterworks Engineer. The chief works held up by the war were the construction on Huntsbury spur of a new reservoir of 8,000,000 gallons capacity (compared with the 1,300.000 gallons capacity of the present main city reservoir at Cashmere) together with its pipeline to the city, alterations and extensions to the main city pumping station at Beckenham, the reticulation of New Brighton, and the construction of a new pumping station, at a point not yet decided upon, in the city. The City Council has held land in reserve for the Huntsbury reservoir since the early ’2o’s, and just before war broke out the council had decided to begin construction. It became impossible to do more than part of the associated pipe-laying work, was needed for emergency precautions purposes. This included the laying of a new main from the chief pumping station to the corner of Tennyson street and Eastern terrace, where it will eventually form part of the main delivery line from Huntsbury to the centre of the city. Boosting Artesian Flow This pipe-line, reaching the city by way of a council easement to Eastern terrace, Wilson’s road, and Fitzgerald avenue, will be the largest ever laid down in the city for water supply purposes. The pipes will be 24in in diameter as far as Wilson’s road and 22in and 20in in diameter on other sections. The cold, clear, and sparkling water for which Christchurch is famous—is so pure that even hospitals use it without filtering—is drawn from artesian wells in many parts of the city, but the main source is a big group of wells near the main pumping station at Beckenham. Here wells discharge, under their own head, into a big underground concrete tank at a rate of 240,000 gallons an hour. From this tank the water is pumped into the city mains and into the Cashmere reservoir simultaneously, the reservoir acting as a balancing station. With the increase in water storage capacity provided by the Huntsbury reservoir, the waterworks department will be able to do much more of its pumping than is now possible in the hours of low electric power charges. The natural flow of the wells at Beckenham will be stepped up, by the installation of pumps, to 400,000 gallons an hour, and possibly more. The rate of growth of the city’s demand for water has been remarkable. In 1910 the year’s consumption was 104,724,600 gallons. In 1925 it had grown to 901.933,000 gallons. In 1945 the consumption was 1,927,665.500 gallons, excluding Sumner. The city (again excluding Sumner) consumes up to 10,159,700 gallons of water a day. Plans for New Brighton The reticulation of New Brighton is one of the biggest of the tasks that have devolved on the City Council through the amalgamation of former local body areas with the city. Most of the former New Brighton borough will be reticulated and the system win be linked with the city supply by an Bin pipe-line along Page’s road. One pumping station will be instaHed initially, with the probable addition of two more later. About 28 miles of pipes, Bin. 6in, and 4in in diameter, are the estimated requirements for the New Brighton reticulation. To provide adequate water for firefighting, the waterworks department has found it necessary to replace most of the old reticulation of Huntsbury spur with larger pipes. Part of this work has been done, and on the completion of a new reservoir on the up&er part of the spur the remainder oi the reticulation will be carried out The problem of ensuring an adequate water supply for Sumner and Mount Pleasant, with their hillside properties and sandy soil, involved a big programme of work. This has been pushed on as rapidly as the supply of pipes permits, nut it is expected that there will be great difficulty in completing the pipe-line to Sumner before the peak demand is met in the coming summer. It is hoped, however, lhat the work at Mount Pleasant will be sufficiently advanced to ensure a good supply in the dry months. The council’s experience with one set of orders for pipes illustrates the difficulties which beset its water programme. Castiron pipes were ordered in Australia, cement-lined steel pipes in New Zealand, and asbestos cement pipes in Britain. Notwithstanding that the British order twice missed shipment, it now seems likely that these pipes will be the first of the three consignments to be received by the council. Extensions to Sumner Originally Mount Pleasant had its own water supply, but when this area joined the city the city mains were extended to the Mount Pleasant pumping station. At the same time the lower part of the hill area was reticulated with pipes of larger capacity to provide fire protection. It was recognised that further extensions to the city in this

with pipes of larger capacity to K fire protection. It was that further extensions to the city in this direction were likely, and the wovk at Mount Pleasant was limited to essentials which would not be redundant n further areas joined the city. Sumper and ppper Mount Pleasant amalgamated with Christchurch in April, IsE>. Because the original water supply scheme of the city did not envisage extensions in this direction the work now needed to ensure a continuous and safe supply for the eastern districts is both extensive and costly.

The first stage in the development was the extension of the Ferry road main to Sumner and Mount Pleasant so that city water could be delivered to the Shag Rock reservoir. The greater part of this Bin main has been l<nd, but difficult sections at both the city and Sumner ends still await the arrival of pipes. A small storage tank will be necessary near the foot of Mount Pleasant with pumping plant to booMthe flow of water from Woolston to Snag Rock at times of peak demand. Monck’s Spur will eventually draw its water directly from the city supply by means of a pumping station at the bottom of the spur, which will elevale water to a reservoir about 550 ft above sea level. Construction of this reservoir will start very soon.