THE MONEY BRAKE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 117, 11 February 1926, Page 8

THE MONEY BRAKE

SUPER-SCHEMES THAT ARE PREMATURE WATER AND DRAINAGE IN MAIN CENTRES LAKE TAUPO AND AUCKLAND INQUIRY PENDING The Minister of Health has decided io hold an inquiryunder statutory authority grant-, ed to the Board of Health—into the water supplies of Greater, Auckland and district. The occasion is opportune in view of the Lake Taupo water supply proposal, and may throw needed light on the general question of the administration of water and drainage services in the larger centres of population.

In one sense it may be said that health Is beyond price; but, in another and verv real sense, it is a fact that everything has its price. No practical good is served by projecting public health proposals that are quite beyond the reach of the public purse. Good water supply and good drainage are in the verv foundation of public health. But when a sufficient water supplv and a sufficient drainage system are obtainable at a cost within the available means of the community, an agitation for super-supplies and supersystems may be not only unhelpful but actually inimical to the cause of public health. It is possible to be too much in advance of the times, as well as too far behind them.

Taupo Plan Ahead of its Time?

In the opinion of many unbiased and competent authorities, the movement to bring a Lake Taupo water supply to Auckland is well ahead of its time and ' is far removed from the actual necessities of the situation. The decision, therefoie, < f the Minister of Health to hold an inquiry into the Water supply and drainage Pystems of Greater Auckland and the surrounding district, tin- ’ der statutory authority granted to the Board of Health, is opportune, and the general public will await with considerable interest the board’s recommenda- . tions, which will be made after full local investigation. i Per se, there is no advantage in going about a couple of hundred miles for something if, at one-quarter or oneeighth the distance, you can get something else that will meet all your requirements. Pipe line is costly; and —other things being allowed for—that is best which lies nearest. People who i have a crate for big public works find public health a plausible pretext, . and the prospect of water-pollution is a fine stick with which to beat the public health drum. But is too much being made of the factor of alleged pollution ? Bacteriology Has Limits. It is contended that, within a comparatively easy distance of Auckland, there arc rivers and upland water sources pqual to the present and prospective needs of the whole community, and the only thing that can be. alleged against the water in these rivers. is certain bacteriological tests. But, with all respect to bacteriology, it is submitted that bacteriological tests . are sometimes made the basis of exaggerated conclusions. Take the cases ot two rivers—one in New Zealand running through grazing country with comparatively few human residents, and another river in England running through a district with a big human population. The bacteriological test shows in the English river a germ associated with foecal matter, and shows it in such proportion as to cause the authorities to condemn the water, or to condemn its use except after treatment. Suppose that the test shows a similar proportion of the germ in the New Zealand river, the same conclusion as to pollution does not necessarily follow, because the closely-inhabited English countryside warrants the deduction that the foecal matter is of human origin, while in New Zealand it almost certainly originates most from animals—sheep, rabbits, etc. Two points to be noted are that the bacteriological test gives no clue as to whether the foecal matter is of human or of lower animal origin; and, if it belongs to the latter division, there is no evidence of any particular, communicability of disease to man in that wav. Without labouring the point, sufficient has been said. to show that a bacteriological test is not the whole story, and that to draw the same conclusions from it as would be drawn in England, in an entirely different environment, is manifestly unsound. The case for pollution cannot be proved in that way. There is au- , thoritative support for the contention —though there is not space to elaborate

it here—that the results of bacteriological tests should always be checked by chemical tests. An Eye on Economics. In short, public health must keep an eye on economics, and must not be stampeded by one-eyed bacteriology or by two-eyed local politics into projects that are beyond both reasonable cost and sanitary necessity. There is a limit to the distances that, water and drainage can be carried.. The expansion of suburban populations is not always systematised, and sometimes proceeds on lines that make - water and drainage services expensive. Further complications ensue wher’e a big urban local body has secured all the best water supplies, so that newer, suburban local bodies must come to it cap in hand for water, which it then sells to them at a big profit to itself. Such is happening in Auckland, and the time is coining when it may be considered necessary to put the control of water and drainage in the metropolitan districts under the control of a composite board, so constituted that its vision will cover the whole and not merely nart of the problem. An ideal water board in the urban and outlying community of Auckland or of Wellington would look well into the future without losing its grip of the present; would avoid generalising too hastily from technical findings, and would hold the balance fairly between what is ideal and what is possible in the steady 1 forward march of -the community toI wards a better basis for public health.