ORONGORONGO WATER

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 103, 2 May 1924, Page 8

ORONGORONGO WATER

NOT REACHING CITY AT

PRESENT.

April in an average year is an anxious month for officers of the Waterworks Department of th c City Corporation, for in April in several past years the maincity water storage dam at Waind has been well down in the mud,, but this year, the early summer drought passed by. no trouble has been experienced. Perhaps this is only ;n accord with the general contrariness of things, for the Orongorongo tunnel is now completed As a matter of fact, very little water has been run through the tunnel pipe line at all, for shortly after the official turmng-on ceremony the valve was shut down and has remained shut down, firstly, because there is ample water without the new supply, a ud, secondly, to enable some further construction work to be carried out at the intake weir in the bed of the Orongorongo. Some time ago a .heavy flood came down • before the concrete of the weir had thoroughly set, and did certain minor damage, but it was decided not to tackle the repair work until the tunnelling work was completed, as the diverting of the water from tho, pipe line would have meant a stoppage of the turbines used for the generation of power for the mechanical drills and lighting. The repairs do not represent a very big job, but there will then remain as a future work the lining of about 25 chains of tunnel where the roof, is of rotten rock, in drawing u p his animates, the Waterworks Engineer, being unable to gain a really good view of a mountain ridge two miles wide at its base by looking over its surface, allowed for the cement lining of 80 chains, so that in that respect the tunnel costs . will be below tho estimate. ' At present the "rotten" lengths are lined with heavy timbering, but made sodden by the steady drip of water from above this timber cannot be relied upon to list very long. .