BURWOOD AREA DRAINAGE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28540, 20 March 1958, Page 9

BURWOOD AREA DRAINAGE

Deputation To Board

Problems of sewerage and land drainage in the Burwood area were outlined to the Christchurch Drainage Board by a deputation from the Burwobd Residents’ Association.

The population of the area was growing tremendously, said Mr D. H. Heaps, who led the deputation. Nothing seemed to have been done to provide sewers and there were also drainage problems.

There was an inadequate nightsoil collection, he said. Two doctors had said that notifiable diseases in the area were higher than they should be. Some new houses were not being allowed to put in septic tanks, although the danger of pollution of water supplies was remote, Mr Heaps said. In the Ferner street area, sullage from households lay in the drains for month after month, said Mr G. L. Moultrie, another member of the deputation.

There had been 15 cases of jaundice at the local school, and the local doctor maintained that they were caused by the water, he said.

“During the winter, one person pulled the plug out of the bath, but the water stayed there until the river went down,” said Mr Moultrie, complaining of the lack of land drainage. It was planned that before the end of this year, the board would have let contracts for the sewering of the area south of New Brighton road, said the chairman (Mr G. A. G. Connal).

The chief engineer (Mr E. F. Scott) said he would have a look at the area to see what could be done about sullage and land drainage. However, the area was low-lying and there was difficulty in getting a good flow in the drains. The cost of piping or covering the drains was greater than the cost of sewerage.

Mr F. R. Price, chairman of the works committee, said that many thousands of pounds had been spent in drainage in the area in the last few years. Before 1952, the board had no responsibility in the area. It had inherited a number of problems from the Waimairi County Council. It could only spend in. a district a fair proportion of its expenditure in relation to the rating from the area. Mr Price undertook to meet the deputation on the site of the problems.