DRAINAGE OF CITY

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25547, 15 July 1948, Page 6

DRAINAGE OF CITY

"Created by conflict, it’ might well be dissolved by unity,” said Mr Somers referring to the proposal that the Drainage Board’s functions should be controlled by the council. A few years ago an act was passed that any areas brought into the city automatically became part of the Drainage Board’s district. As the act was not made retrospective the board had two isolated areas, Sumner and the upper part of Mount Pleasant. The lower part of Mount Pleasant and Huntsbury Hill were in the city, but not in the Drainage Board’s area. In comparing the present Drainage Board boundary with that proposed by the city, the two functions of the board —sewerage and stormwater drainage—must be considered, continued the witness. Obviously the built-up area was the area that would be sewered, and the city included all that area. Stormwater drainage was not as simple. Difficulties were likely to be found at the estuary, in the Heathcote river and its drains, in the river Avon, its tributaries and its drains, and in the north, where drainage was dependent to some extent on the Styx river.

The amalgamation of the Drainage Board and. the council must assist in reaching an agreement on the work to

be done in the estuary, said Mr Somers. Trouble with the Heathcote river had been accentuated by excess water from the hills causing not only overflowing, but silting-up of the bed. The proposed city boundaries included the area where trouble occurred. Lack of capacity was the cause of trouble, in the Avon, and the river was almost entirely within the proposed city. To the north the drainage problem was more complex. North of the city there was an indefinite watershed from which water ran south to the Avon and north to the Styx. When there was intense rainfall it was possible for the water to back up and flow south, causing floods in the north of the city. Drainage problems had been discussed with the North Canterbury Catchment Board, which promised to co-operate with the drainage authority of the city, whether it was the council or the board. If the council controlled drainage and found the Styx or county drains inefficient, the Catchment Board would take steps to see that the work was done, with the board, the city, and the county sharing the cost. Mr Somers concluded his evidence on the proposal for the city to undertake sewerage and drainage by mentioning a number of alleged anomalies in the present organisation.