Evening Post. "WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1907. THE DIMINISHED WATER SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 67, 20 March 1907, Page 6

Evening Post. "WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1907. THE DIMINISHED WATER SUPPLY

While the average citizen is anxiously asking who is to blame for the temporary stoppage of the city'i? main water supply, it is well to remind him that he himself will hi tho person chiefly to blame if the inconvenience and discomfort which, ore the inevitable results of tho accident should be multiplied into a calamity of the first magnitude. According to the estimates which w« published yesterday, the daily average consumption of water in Wellington has lately been as high aa eighty gallons per head of population, requiring an inflow into tho city of not Ices than 100,000 gallons an hour. If ov-ery citizen would ask himself how much of his share in this enormous total during the past month represented sheer waste, and would determine that during the coming month this waste should absolutely cease, tho main ground for tho serious anxiety which has pervaded tho city during the last twenty-four hours would nbaolutely cease. In round numbers the Wainui reservoir has been accustomed to supply us with two and a half million gallons of the three millions consumed daily, so that for the threo weekj or more which it will take to Tejtore tho Pipe Bridge across tho Hutt River tho city has to face a reduction of its watersupply by five-sixths. At the rate of threa million gallons a, day, the 45,000,000 gallons now in tho reservoir at Karori would all have gone and left the city absolutely dry, a week before tho earliest date at which the 'City Engineer hopes to have the' Wainui supply in operation again. If it b« said that there is a, probability, especially after tho long spell of diy weather that we have hart, that there will be some rainfall during the next three weeks to replenish the supply at Karori, the answer is that the eamo cauue is jusfc as likely to delay the repairs to the broken bridge, and bo prolong the period of dependence upon the KaTori reservoir. There are also other items in the chapter of accidents for whicih allowance should be mode, 'and- it will therefore b$ prudent to prepare for a. longer period than tho City Engineer prescribes, instead of a shorter one. The result is alarming enough in tho light of these considerations, but we believe that even now the chief cause for alarm is to bo found not in the broakmg of the main, but in the wastefulness of the consumer. Though fivesixths of the city's water supply has been cub off, a reasonable degree of economy should enable the citizens to weather tho crisis without any serious discomfort, except for the absolute stoppage during the greater part of tho day at tho higher levols. If one considers the wanton waste of water that under normal conditions takes place every day i n H 1 ° °^ ora g° household, it seems perfectly safe to say that fifty per cent, of the missing five-sixths could bo dispensed i 1 " lou '' . tne slightest inconvenience, ami that, without any very exacting sacrifice, as much could bo done for the balance. Think of tho perennially dribbling taps, and of the taps that are running aD all hours simply because it is too much troublo to turn them off; pf the water that is brought nil the way from Wainui to serve no other purpose than to flood tho sinks and tho gutters ; of the baths that are filled to tho brim when every object of health, comfort, and cvon luxury, would be equally well RL-rved if they were left half full— think of all those things, and then say whefchor it can bo an exaggeration to say that half of the city's walor supply ordinarily runs to wasto. Contrast tho ways, of an ordinary uousehold at Kolburno, which is dependent upon tanks, with those of the neighbour a chain or two down tho hill-sido which is privileged to tap tho city water supply. Is it an exaggeration to say that tho former makos a quart go at least as far as tho latter makes a gallon? Just now the degreos of economy aro reversed, but all that will be needed of tho average consumer during tho next few woeks is to exerciso tho same care as though his daily supply came from his own tanks, and the city will be able to stand a month's aiogo, with twenty million gallons still to spare at Karori. Another strong inducement to economy, as woll as to care of another kind, is to be found in the risk of fire. What happened a fow months ago in Lainbtonquay through a temporary break in the main should mvo ai a reminder of the .risk that .we shall be running gvery day.

till the connection with Wainui is restored. To take every possible precaution against fire and against the waste of water has become a duty of imperative obligation for every citizen.