PROGRESS OF DRAINAGE BOARD REVIEWED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29635, 4 October 1961, Page 20

PROGRESS OF DRAINAGE BOARD REVIEWED

The achievements of the Christchurch Drainage Board IB the last five years were evidence of the drive of the Association, and if the association*! candidates were re-elected next Saturday there would be even more spectacular development in the next three yearn, said Mr F. R. Price, the present chairman of the board, and the spokesman for his association’s candidates, in a policy statement yesterday. If it was returned to administer the board, the association would aim at the installation of sewers in the remaining built-up areas as circumstances permitted, Mr Price said. It was expected that the first new contract would be let in October for the northern collecting sewer.

In the last five years there had been 13,035 new connexions to the sewer, an increase of 31.25 per cent, he said. In the same period, 124 miles of sewer had been installed, varying in diameter from Bin to 54in and in depths up to 18ft. This represented an increase of 323 per cent.

The figures did not include works completed but not yet formally taken over by the board from contractors, he said. The achievements were apart from the major treatment works, which were nearing completion, and which would provide for the city's expansion, with relatively minor Additions, up to the end of the century. Promising greater progress if his association was reelected, Mr Price said that in recent years much of the cost of sewer works had been in the development of trunk lines to carry the added reticulation of the various districts, and now reticulation work could generally, be carried out much more quickly than the trunk lines. Land Drainage The board was anxious to proceed with major improvements to the land drainage and stormwater systems, hS continued, and the planning division had been engaged in preparing for a systematic attack on the 17 major flood areas in the metropolitan

district. The amount of work possible would depend on the attitude of the Local Authorities’ Loans Board. His association wanted to see improvements in the Estuary, Mr Price continued. The board's primary aim was to bring about improvements to the., land drainage of the tidal reaches of toe Avon and Heathcote rivers, but as long as this interest was not prejudiced, it would be happy to co-operate in the development of toe Estuary to enhance its appearance and permit more extensive public use. ‘The board has been conscious of the need to stabilise rates as far as possible, and its recent policy of restricting major developments to loan works has enabled it to maintain rates at the existing level during the current year, indeed to give a small reduction in most areas,” he said. ‘The efficiency of the administration has greatly helped toe board to maintain stability of rates. At no time in the board’s history have management costs been so low, whether expressed in relation to money spent, connexions made, or sewers constructed.”