REPORT ON ESTUARY PROBLEMS READY

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30130, 14 May 1963, Page 15

REPORT ON ESTUARY PROBLEMS READY

It looked as though something could be done, and would be done, to control the level of the water in the Estuary, said Mr L. C. Krom, a member of the Christchurch Drainage Board, at a meeting of the Woolston Improvements Association last evening. “I have just received the report of the preliminary investigations into the Estuary problem. I cannot say what the recommendations are at present. The report will come up at the next meeting of the Drainage Board. However. once the level of the water is regulated, the unpleasant smells from the mudflats at low tide will disappear," he said. He said that the report was an inch thick and was the result of 12 months’ investigations directed by the board's chief planning engineer (Mr E. F. Scott).

The proposal to construct a barrage at the mouth of the Estuary had been mooted for some time, and the report was on the feasibility of this and other methods of regulating the movement of the tidal water. The association unanimously resolved to protest to the board against the proposal to put an oxidation pond at the foot of Mount Pleasant, near the Heathcote bridge. Mr Krom said that he did not see how such a pond could be brought into being without bringing unpleasant smells and midges into the area. The midges had arrived at the Auckland sewage treatment plant six months after it started to operate, and three months after the Bromley works began. He outlined several alternatives to an oxidation pond to deal with sewage from Mount Pleasant. The meeting also resolved that the Woolston baths

should be kept open The general feeling was that the baths would be used more by Woolston residents and children than would the proposed lido-type baths at Waltham Park.

Cr. W. E. Olds replied to criticism by Messrs C. R. Thomas ana W. Rountree that the City Council had neglected the Woolston baths, which had been handed over to the council in good repair. Cr. Olds said that the council would assist in reconstruct-

ing the baths, if the Woolston residents desired it, by subsidising funds raised in the district.