LOWER HUTT WATER SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 135, 4 March 1941, Page 8

LOWER HUTT WATER SUPPLY

Improvements In View

Following strictures at last week’s meeting of the Wellington Fire Board on the water supply of Lower Hutt City for fire-fighting purposes, an endeavour was made to communicate with the mayor of Lower Hutt, Mr. J. W. Andrews, Or the town clerk, but it was found that both had left to attend the Municipal Conference in Auckland. An officer of the Hutt City Council, however, drew attention to an advertisement, which appeared in "The Dominion’.’ on Saturday morning, calling the notice of ratepayers to a special meeting of the council to be held on March 17 to consider a motion to apply to the Local Government Loans Board for its sanction to raise a loan of £160,530 for the purpose of improvements to the city’s water supply. It is understood that the improvements mentioned have nothing to do with a surface gravity supply scheme; nothing to do with the old major scheme of supplying the whole of the Hutt Valley from the Akatarawa, Whakatiki, and Puheratahi streams at the head of the valley, as proposed under the Wellington City alid Suburban Water Board ten years ago. This was the scheme of the late Mr. W- H. Morton and Mr. J. M. Moricetywhereby the whole of Wellington, the Hutt Valley aud possibly Tawa Flat, Porirua, and Plimmerton were to benefit. The Water Board functioned till it became known what the cost to the various local bodies would be. As soon as the estimated costs were made known Lower Hutt and Petone (both of which rely on,artesian water) resigned from the board, and have remained out ever since. With two of the largest boroughs out of the scheme, nothing .further was done in regard to the matter, other than the securing of flow records at various seasons of the year in the streams mentioned.