WATER SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 97, 29 April 1929, Page 12

WATER SUPPLY

NEW BOARD'S POSITION

A GENERAL REVIEW

CITY AND VALLEY

Although the municipal' election taking place on Wednesday has a very important bearing on the Akatarawa water supply and afforestation scheme, none of the candidates, so far, have included the subject in their addresses. As fho future policy of tho Water Board is largely dependent upon the new personnel of the controlling authority, and as the future water supply of the greater Wellington area is involved, sonic surpriso has been expressed on this account. As one of the. sitting members of that board and as chairman of tho Works Committee of the City Council, Mr. H. D. Bennett was invited by a "Post" reporter to make a statement on tlie subject.

The subject is of greater importance to the citizens of Wellington than any other one coming under the care of our future councillors, said ■ Mr. / Bennett. The Water Board as set up under the Empowering Act of 1927 was constituted so as to 'include for half of its membership councillors of the City of Wellington, and tho other half representatives' of tho Hutt Valley local bodies, with tho Mayor of Wellington as chairman. The financial responsibility, how-ev-cr, is 80 per cent. Wellington city.

The board has had a rather rough passage, continued Mr. Bennett, and even'now its fato is in tho melting-pot. There arc many minor problems the board has to face in addition to the main one of water supply. Under tiie Act of 1927. the Coates Government Tested in the citizens of Wellington and valley an area of some 87,000 acres, part of which formed for tho most part the watersheds of tho Hutt River and two out of three of its principal tributaries, the Whakatikei and the Little Akatarawa. The purchase of privatelyowned land was necessary to fully enclose tho watersheds.

Before the newly-constituted board had time to come to grips ■ with its main objects-—the supply of water — i sundry side issues cropped up which in ; the aggregate rather threatened the very existence of the board. The first . of these was the question of-whether or not sawmilling should be allowed on i any part of the new estate. Some members pleaded' for the preservation of the native forest; others expressed the view that under proper contra! no ; harm would come of sawmilling; bo- < sides, there was the needed revenue. : The taking under license of opossums, : the sale of firewood, both connected ; with revenue, were other matters ab- ' sorbing many hours. There were many ■ other smaller issues. STATUTOEY LIMITATIONS. 1 "It has never been quite clear to mo • ■why the creation of .this trust was ac- ' ]" companied by so much restrictive ' limitations," continued Mr. Bennett. : "From what one can gather, Cabinet decided to create the trust by the transfer of the property to a public body for certain purposes. It was not till the proposal came before the full House that the Bill became the^vietim of harassing conditions. So strong was the opposition in certain quarters that only by judicious compromise could the main intent be effected. '*It was not, therefore, surprising that in the following session the board ; presented its appeal in the form of an amending Act. The purport was to first remove the restriction on annual expenditure (£3000), and, secondly, to give the board the right to purchase other lands within the watershed. Although it was clear that tho teniper of the House had long since subsided, the Unfortuuato board found itself rent from within.. Tho presentation of the caso for the board before the Committee oi; the House was thus made under thj a ludicrous circumstances of having sons c of its own members appear in opposition. There was only one result. T) ie board was told to put its. own house in order first, and so it has remained ha mstrung. The present position of the Wj'ater Board is that it can do very li .ttle without amending legislation. If the smaller local bodies continue in opposition, it is faced with no (jther alternative but to accept the trust under a new constitution. If this was accessary, Mr. JBminett said, he felt sure that the City 0 ouneil would favourably consider takii ig the whole thing over. He would ad vocate such a course. Assuming, howeVer, for the purpose of further discussi/ m that the board overcame its internal dissensions and a common front was pi -escnted in dealing.with the main question of the supply of water to its constituency, there were some very interesl;ing features still to bo considered. THE CITY'S SUPPL7;. The consumption of water i n.the city ran at about 7% to-8 million $ ;allons per day, averaging 65 to 80 gallor is per head of population. Its supply is dj ;awn mainly from the Wainui dam. Ai i additional supply is drawn from O; rongorongo, which (because of its high er level) is delivered to higher places 'chan can be reached by the Wainui. Although it was originally intended that the Orongo-i-ongo scheme should be m; eroly.-by way I of a diversion of the xri iters of that river to augment tho flow r of the .Wainui, both to be caught by the Morton dam, it is not generally 1? nown that the waters of that far-away i c-iver are delivered direct to the Karoi: i, Onslow, Kelbuni) and Northland I Reservoirs, and nlso have access to the city mains. "These combined sources of supply are adequate for all requirements for many yeafs ahead. li.f, however, we look up the rainfall records of the past, and base calculations on the dryest year and at the '••rune tirrifj credit ourselves with maximum poss i'blo increase in population, tin; indications are that in / Jive years \vu will want more water. This, however, only- brings us to tho second stage as plan _-<ied by Mr. Morton, when tho Orongoro ngo sourco was tapped, namely, the provision of a second dam in the Wainv ii Valley. That was part of Iho scherje. „ As a matter of fact, there had be «n some doubt in tlio mind of that great engineer as to which of the two works. ( should be undertaken first—tho water 'tunnel to Orongorongo, or the second At un in tho Wainui Valley. He had ex amined the foundations for the now da pi —the shafts are still open. He originally estimated its cost at £120,000, but this figure had to be revised. The r squired work would now probably cost ;Jouble that ilgure. "I have no desire," said Mr. Bennett, "to enci x>ach on professional ' ground, and cmr present engineers will be able and must bo asked to tell us how many jr. ioro years the city could live if the se< tond dam was erected. For the purpose 'of this review it-would be safe to say that with the expenditure of, say, a quarter of a million on a big dam at WaSjiiui, this city need look no further for a water supply for at least a-decade. There is an abundant and unquestion able annual supply in the two rivers. It is only a matter of holding it for par t of each year.

Here, .' therefore, is tlio position simply stated, showing the city's prosent ar id future needs, and corresponding re fjpurces. It can-, in short, do

without the Akatarawa for many years if the supply of water wcro the only consideration. '■ OTHER LOCAL BODIES. "It does not tako long to tell of tlie conditions of the others. Kastb ourne has no effective water supply, a,nd is in dire need of one now. The ci Jty can afford to lot that small borough ;tap its mains at Waiwhetu, and no dou/ofc consideration will be given that in a tter by the new board. "Petonc is ono of tlio recalcitrants. It has a primitive supply fro/ii Koro Koro, and tho balanco of its. 1 requirements is taken from artesian \v ells. That borough takes up tho attitud o that it will only tako its place in the.' combined team if it is guaranteed certJiin things, water at a predetermined price, and no other expenses. "The Lower Hutt . Borough has through its representative ati the board consistently supported and, urged the tapping of the new source of water sivpply, and is standing by pending developments. That boroughi is in need. The Hutt County is goner ally opposed to the present constitution. 1 of the board and shares with Petone ii 1 the opposition to tho proposed au lending legislation. ' "Generally it 1 may be sfc atcd with confidence that an adequatf: water supply is urgently needed in I the whole of the Hutt Valley area, : including Eastbourne, while Wellington City is safe at least for live years, a nd for a decade afterwards by building another dam at its own source of suppl; r. ANSWERS N7£!EDED. "In ordci\to obtain the correct perspective it should be- remembered that the Akatarawa schenv c is financially 80 per cent. City CouneL'i and 20 per cent. Hutt Valley '■ "The city's water supply is adequate, that of the Valley is not. The city is prepared to proceed; two at least of the Valley authorities laave engaged in a' hold-up. : The question may therefore be asked, 'Why, tb en, should the City Council bother?' I ndeed that is a real question. As chairman of the board the "Mayor (Mr. 'L'roup) has exhibited remarkable patie» cc and tolerance. The city's representatives have always taken a very lori/j view. Their policy has been one of pi aternal patronage. The well-being of thf: whole- community in the greater area, 1 not any one section of it, is their polifjy, and they desire to carry it out—if the patient will allow them. ..'

• "Does the cj ty ratepayer, you ask, the 80 per tfent; burden man, share these altruistic bene'/oJenccs? Let us credit that inquisitive gentleman with a few more question s.

"1. If the ; city's water supply is assured, why hf s it accepted the property at all?

"2. Can it ever be made self-support-ing with or;-'without the water scheme?

"3. If its r; acceptance means the preservation o/f the forest, why rob the General Government, whose property it was, of that obligation? "4. Ha^ ing regard to the supply available i o the city or a result of its existing 1? trge capital outlay at Wainui, and 1 u he confinement of the city's requiremff nts- to that source for many years to <:onie, how can the appropriate expenditr ire—much greater than Wainui —be justified?" .

Mr. Bj jnnett said these' were questions demanding answers. With the first plank— that of community of interests —wren' ched from under a degree of doubt ' had crept in. He would attempt at aora c later date to discuss the matter further.