Conserving Pure Water Supplies

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29903, 17 August 1962, Page 10

Conserving Pure Water Supplies

In Christchurch and many other parts of Canterbury a good water supply is regarded as nothing remarkable; yet prodigality and abuse can abridge dangerously even the most bountiful natural resources. Mr S. Hamblett, a senior Government engineer, has drawn attention to this problem in an interesting paper at the New Zealand Science Congress. There have been, instances overseas—in London and California, for example—where normal accretions have not compensated for the taking of underground water for domestic and industrial purposes, and where a resulting inflow of sea water has contaminated supplies. Pollution of underground reservoirs with sewage, trade wastes, and other material is another problem that may arise through the careless use of water. As the population of Canterbury increases, so will the desirability of busbanding and protecting water supplies.

So far. attempts to safeguard New Zealand resources of ground water in the way that Mr Hamblett advocates have proved ineffectual. In 1953 Parliament passed the Underground Water Act, which provides for the establishment of water authorities by one or more territorial local bodies. The Act was modelled on an English statute; but apparently because of excessive concern for the existing rights of users, New Zealand local authorities were denied effective powers to control water resources well ahead of any possible shortage. Moreover, the Act is permissive rather than mandatory; no local body is required to initiate the formation of a water authority unless there is a request for it to do so.

From the information available to “ The Press ”, it appears probable that the New’ Zealand Act has been invoked only once, and then unsuccessfully. This was in 1955, when the Lyttelton Borough Council sought to be appointed underground water authority for part of the Heathcote county from which the borough draws its water from artesian and semiartesian wells. An objection by the Heathcote County Council was withdrawn when Heathcote was promised its own representation on the water authority. The borough council’s failure to establish its case before an inquiry commission constituted under the 1953 Act demonstrated the way in which this legislation can be nullified by any resistance to control proposals. Yet the 1953 legislation was hailed as important and beneficial by both the principal political parties. It was thought to be specially significant for parts of Otago, Christchurch, the Hutt Valley, Palmerston North, and districts of Hawke’s Bay, in all of which the demand for water was reported to be affecting the water table. The extent of the drain upon artesian supplies in Canterbury is suggested by early historical records. Between February, 1862 (when the first well* was sunk), and 1878, about 2000 wells were put down in Christchurch and its environs. Many wells in Canterbury have a relatively large bore; and till recent times vast quantities of water daily ran to waste. For Christchurch city and adjacent areas to await the imminence of local shortages before securing better control over water sources is surely a folly that no sensible community will tolerate.