TIRITEA DAM PROJECT

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27987, 6 June 1956, Page 10

TIRITEA DAM PROJECT

PALMERSTON NORTH WATER

ADEQUATE SUPPLY FOR FORTY YEARS

“The Press'* Special Service

PALMERSTON NORTH, June 5.

The Tiritea dam, which will provide Palmerston North with an adequate water supply for the next 40 years, is almost completed. First snooted 30 years ago, the scheme has been investigated by three separate panels of professional engineers. Each reported favourably, but it was not till 1951 that any definite move was made. The dam which has served Palmerston North for the last 45 years is completely outmoded and totally inadequate. Recently the council has been forced to pump artesian water into the mains. The first to advocate Tiritea as a dam site, was Mr J. R. Hughes, then city engineer, but it was not till after the third panel, headed by the present city engineer, Mr G. F. Hogg, had investigated and reported on the problem, that a start was made early in 1953. Today, at a cost of jnore than £500,000, the project is completed.

The new dam is the largest built in New Zealand outside those for the State Hydro-electric department. It is 120 feet high, capacity of 375,000.000 gallons*A reature of the construction was’rne method of transporting the 13.000 cubic yards of concrete required. Small trucks running on a single rail were used on the site, a system not previously employed in New Zealand.

The lake behind the dam is two miles long and the catchment area covers nearly 6000 acres, mostly bush-* clad. The design of the dam is such that the overflow from the lake will have a clear drop of 100 feet. To complete the scheme, only the filtration plant, being built at a cost of £150,000, remains to be finished. The dam itself was used for water storage last summer.