THE WATER SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 95, 15 January 1908, Page 7

THE WATER SUPPLY.

'BREAK IN THE MAIN REPAIHEP.' A BLOW OUT., j 1 GJDNEIUL MJJTEIt /SY3TEM. , Tlio city should heave ji sigh of ■ relief 09 - K learning that |the "hlon-out" m the Wainui fnmn at .Wawotu (between-the Stream and - the foot of the" hill) wa? repaired between lpm and 2 pm. yesterday, 1 and tho fujl pressure of Wainui was restored at 6 o'clock last evpning. , The process of .opening: up the valves must necessarily bp a-very gradual ojie / acpount. of. the enprmou§ pressure ofHUa t flow. Tho City Engineer (Mr. W- H. Moi- , to?), went;, out to tho 'scene of thq' break '■ •■ : yesterday morning, and found that a picca 1 of ,tho pipo. about; throe■ feet in length, had b.tyw.n out sat a Joint, and- tho 1 foyco of ( the jvator had scoured out a, big hole .M!W A £aug, working through the';: J'" mghtj lost no time in disjodging the. broken pjpß, and putting, in a new one, with the . satisfactory result that tho main was made whole again. soon aftert noou- yesterday—an -f - 'oxcellopt performance, • « Water Consumption. , V ■ ; conversation, tho: City Engineer cave !" somo interesting information on seyeraJ ' phases of tho question Ho stated that - the daily consumption in Wellington of totioulatod water during the summer months . amounts approximately to 3,400,000 gallons ' per from Wamui and gOO.OOO gallons from Karon—allps ing a littlo over CO gallons per day for a population of 55.000. r Wolbnfeton a population js n good deal larger * than tho figure quoted, but it is pointed out that a proportion of the people of Wellington , -reside in suburbs not yet connected with thq I water bervice, and are solely dependent'on 1 tanks for their supplies Sixty gallons scorns a big allowance.for one person per day. l r and it 5s a Tery 'liberal allowance, but Mr. Morton pomtq out that no one taking » plunge batli: uses, loss than forty gallons of' flater.; then, .oyer ,and. above, water 'for- personal usej there is that used in the' household service, for washing, and • the hundred! and ono things in which water is a first essential. ■ ■ Jlipro a,ro .thoso that, might not use moro than; ' two, or, throe gallons per day, but then again ■ thorp are the, big manufactories and utilities "i that uso onormous quantities fliat make up ■ the balanco. Melbourne uses about 80 gal- 1' lons per head daily in summer and Lonaon only 30. Tliti Waste'at Night. 1 ' '' ■ What is surmising ■ about tho water service concerns the"amount" th?t runs to wasto at night. Mr Morton says that-80,000 -gal--2l a K. tho quantity, that runs : •: throjigli in tfayhgjithours, aire registered by tho Vonturi nioter in tho dead of tho night, and wherfejt all goes to has puzzled him for a long/ time. It had been suggested that thorp Was a leakago somewhere, but he had l tp.sted tlu; main and ascertained that " that' : '.Was'not th'e casfl.f He could only put it down • to defective fittings, which do not show their defects >until the high pressure of'the' night l htiurs'comes 011, and to thoso people who ; jpn Wit.pr. off mta, tanks at nighty an<{ thoso : .who .use,; the-/hose surreptitiously or other- ■ ■ wise. It: seems that"Wo havo, in tho past been, unable to conserve to any extent in tho ■ . >> 1 »ter. ..This, , though not a serious-matter : at\t£iat timo of- the year,- becomes 50 during ■ mid-summer.' The Council was now insisting' v oil- a- certains class. of '-fittings;' so that' a gradual: improvement-in tho loss on-that score could bo looked for.- ; • ' A Proposal.' . "Tho most common-sense thing to do in * a town like Wellington," said Mr. Morton, "wasto insist ..on every-house pr building bo|n/; supplied with a'water meter, and over and'abovo ;a certain amount 'of water (allowable 111' return for tho water rate), they should bo charged somethingrrr-say 9d, a 1000 gallons.- That would be a fair and proper thing to do, and would put a check ,on the . that: goes, on now, particularly at night time." \ ■• - . Effect-of .Earthquakes. The City Engineer attributes the "blowout" at Wanvetu to the effect of an earthquake shock or shocks. "Every hroak that there has been since I have been here," Fa id Jie, ' "hasV b(icii preceded by an - earthquake.: The effect 1 might pot be apparent at : once. It might commence with a tiny crack and _ end-with a-bursty Talking about the liability of tlio Wainui; to brenk, the -engineer- ' stated that the cast-iron pipes were only three-quarters of an i inch thick —r they should be. an inch and a hiilf in thickness to; with-i stand , the' Wamui' pressure (1601b. to • thel . square inch). :■ The Pipe Bridge. - --Mr;_Morton..regrpts_that something is r.oti being done towards the, eroction of tho new, j pipe bridge at tho Ilutt. It would be much safop for the city.and more satisfactory to himself if' the'- authorities would come to 0 definite. undorstandiiiig as to the sito, Sf that the work could proceed at pnoe.