CLOSURE POINT. CITY WATER SUPPLY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 47, 25 February 1908, Page 8

CLOSURE POINT. CITY WATER SUPPLY.

THREE-FOOT LIMIT REACHED. Thirty-seven inches down is the record at Wainuiomata reservoir to-day, and citizens are now faced with the liability of having all "extraordinary" supplies oi water cut off, in accordance with the powers given by the "three foot limit" resolution by the City Council. When the .resolution was passed the council intimated that the power given was not to be exercised before consultation took place with tne Mayor (aa representing the council) and the city engineer. The consultation is to lake place this afternoon There is a disinclination on the part of the civic authorities to give immediate effect to the cuttrng-01l resolution, and several influences are working to this end. The principal ono is the greater care in use of the water supply that is now being exercised by the citizens. The pressure this morning, as shown by the gauge in the city engineer's office, was twenty pounds better than the records of two weeks ago, and this result is due to' the fact that the daily consumption is now very much below the normal average. Further, it is recognised that to cut off the extraordinary supplies would greatly hamper the business of tho city ; and having regard to all the circumstances tlu, civic authorities may try to carry on for a little while longer without in any way curtailing the supply to the businoss plat.es and private houses. The amount of water consumed in tho city during the busis&t time of the day (i.e., from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.) works out at the rate of four and a-half million gallons a day. From this it wjll be seen that the kindly offer of tho Mayor ot Lower Hutt Borough to supply a lead of water from the local reservoir would, if accepted, be only a trickle in tho tank, so to speak, Tho one sufficient remedy will be rain ; and at the time of writing there was a moistness in the air, a slight dropping of the barometer, and a general change in the weather by comparison with that of the last two months, which make hope of early rain seem reasonable. A bush fire spread into the reservoir reserve at Wainui Valley yesterday, and tho City Council had to despatch a gang of fire beaters to the spot. They nad a long and heavy task, but their efforts finally subdued the fire.