ALARMING STATE OF THE RESERVOIR.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 122, 27 May 1881, Page 2

ALARMING STATE OF THE RESERVOIR.

• Yesterday morning, as previously recorded, the depth of water in the reservoir was only Bft 6in.- To-day the basin is quite empty, 3 with the exception, of course, of the water | which continues- to flow into it from the Kaiwarra stream. The distributing basin, I however, is. yet.£ull,"and by the exercise 01 ' extraordinary ooonomy on the t>*tt of householders thia supply may hold , oub for two or three days to como, even Bhd'tfld no rain desoond in the meantime to mako an appreciable difference in tHft ' Btate of the receiving basin. Some degree of surprise may bo expressed at this groat and sudden diminution of the water in the reservoir, and mauy may hastily acoept tho "leak" theory to acconnt for the ciroutnBtanco. Bttt, a's we pointed out yesterday, the area of the basin decreases to a very' great extent as the bottom is approached,- and the recent- rainfall has been — of an almost inappreciable kind. The Budden decrease may perhaps bo better understood by a mere referonoe to the principle on which an ordinary sand-glass works. As i 9 well known, the sand dribbles slowly and steadily down tjl the supply is about to give out, when it descends with a mbli. Witn awat6r famine staring us in tho face at snoh unpleasant quarters, it therefore behoves every householder to. exercise even greater care and oconomy than ever in using what httlo remains of tho water for domes* tic purposes. In Dnnedin, a few years! ago, on the occasion of a doarth of water in that city, the corporation authorities attempted to meet the difficulty by sending c&rts round to the houses of the citizens. Should tho necessity for a similar oouree of prooedure arise in Wellington, as ' is not improbable, it would, of course, be too muoh to ask the residents to pay for tha : ' water thus received, and it is to be hoped therefore that no extra charge will bo made.