THE WIDE VIEW

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1932, Page 12

THE WIDE VIEW

WATER SUPPLY PROBLEM

FOR GEEATEE WELLINaTON

WHY NOT CO-OPERATION?

The City and Suburban. Water Board'a scheme for tho supply of water to the whole of tho metropolitan area has beeu shelved for the time being and is probably now a good many years away, as artesian supplies promise to more than meet present needs. Councillor J. N. Wallace has now advanced a proposal under which the districts concerned might cooperate in the utilisation of present surface water and artesian supplies, so effecting economies which would benefit all. The city and suburban supply scheme, ushered in with great acclaim a few years ago, is at an end, as far as surface water supplies aro concerned, for probably a good many years, and the co-operation of all local authorities in the greater "Wellington area so hopefully spoken of when the scheme was launched failed unhappily as the preliminaries progressed and the smaller authorities realised that the proposed developments were going to bo cosWy, and the charge for water higher than their own supplies. Petone, Lower Hutt, and, quite recently, Eastbourne dropped out, and there are left in the scheme the city, Upper Hutt, and tho Hutt County Council. A development scheme of tho upper reaches of the Hutt Eiver, or one of its tributary streams, which might have been entirely feasible with, all in it became impossible when the three largest suburban areas withdrew. Had the likelihood of that action been foreseen it is highly probable that the scheme recommended by the engineer would have been very different, but co-operation was in the air and the prospects for a metropolitan area scheme looked very bright. However, the high cost was though by Petone and Lower Hutt to be too much, and though Eastbourne had hopes for a long time of a board scheme in which it could join that borough also has definitely broken away and has made its own artangement with Lower Hutt. FULLER UTILISATION. _ The* proposal put forward by Councillor Wallace is again for co-operation between all local authorities in the city and suburban area, but. is very different from the Water Board scheme, as the minor developments necessary are inexpensive and yet, he maintains, would lead to assured and adequate supplies at certainly not higher, and probably lower, than the present rates in the several areas. At present, said Councillor Wallaeo to a "Post" reporter to-day, each local authority has a separate water supply system: Wellington has tho WainuiOrongorongo surface suppl; ; Petone has artesian bores and pumping plant as its main supply and a smaller supply by . gravity from the Koro Koro reservoir; Lower Hutt pumps from artesian bores; Eastbourne is to receive a supply from new bores and a new pumping plant in the. Lower Hutt area; and, on top of all, Wellington City is working towards yet another set of bores and pumping plant to augment the WainuiOrongorongo supply, to be located perhaps on Gear Island. Upper Hutt has a small scheme of its own and is rather removed from the centre of the picture. The portions of the Hutt County most concerned,'Day's Bay, Lowry Bay, etc.,-are more closely connected with the Eastbourne supply system than with the city aspect of the problem. A SINGLE WATER-SUPPLY AREA. "Tho position, then, is," said Councillor Wallace, "that to supply the city and suburban district, which can, from a water supply point of view, very rightly be considered as one area, within, the harbour basin, we have a surface supply system, two pumping systems, a third pumping station now being established, and still a fourth is oil the way. All the present systems have to be operated twelve months of the year, but it is proposed that the city bores and pumps shall operate during only dry months. Surely by plain common-sense co-operation all these systems could be combined, to the material advantage of everyone in the metropolitan area. -WATER WASTING, PUMPS GOING. "For nine months of the year in every year, and sometimes " eleven months, millions of gallons pour to Waste over the weirs of the Wainui Val3ey dams and past the intake of the Orongorongo main, and while these Millions of gallons are running down to the sea Petone, Lower Hutt, and, shortly, Eastbourne supply plant is jmmping day in and day out. That surplus" water might well be made available to the valley boroughs during the months of plentiful supply, and during the three or less months of lessened Wainui and Orongorongo stream flow the borough systems would take up their district supplies and the proposed Gear Island plant could maintain an adequate city supply. Expensive pumping in tho valley boroughs and for Eastbourne, I believe, could bo confined to not more than three, perhaps four, months in any year." The details of the plan, ho continued, were straightforward and offered lio engineering difficulties. The pressure in the Wainui mains, and certainly in the Orongorongo main, would bo too great for the valley reticulation, but a water tower, or the reservoir to be built in connection with the Eastbourne supply, would provide a simple means of reducing pressure, ALL ELEMENTS AVAILABLE. The plan, continued Councillor Wallace, would offer mutual advantages as between city and suburbs. The city iad ample water for, say, nine months of the year, but had to make provision for a greater supply than was available from, the streams in the summer months. The proposed artesian bore on or near Gear Island, it was anticipated, would •take care of that, at a cost of probably £9000, as against £500,000 for a development such as was proposed by the Water Board. Such an artesian scheme had to be gone on with to tide the city over dry periods for tho next ten or fifteen years, but why, as all tho elements would exist for a workable complete scheme, should not all tho areas concerned co-operate to tho mutual benefit of all? "Suppose for a moment that each of these areas had a separate power supply system," said Mr. Wallace, "just how long would it be before someone protested against the waste of separate organisations and operations when one concern could, with the others as standbys, supply the whole area fully as efficiently and at less cost. The argument for a joining up of - the multiple water supply systems is in fact considerably stronger than in the analogy of the power, stations: the saving in pumping expenses would be immediate. It appears to me to be the reasonable and sensible course, a means of co-operation in which there are no handicaps of heavy outlay before a start can be made. "JUST SENSIBLE CO-OPERATION" "I am well aware," said Mr. Wallace, "that past disagreements have Hot altogether been forgotten, and that

the collapse of the Water Board's scheme is held by some against those bodies which withdrew because they folt they could not face the cost, but should past difficulties operate as obstacles to the future co-operation? The surface supply scheme outlined to the Water Board, or a variation of it, must come some day, and without much doubt all tho Greater Wellington authorities will participate in it, but in the meantime I firmly believe that substantial economies could be effected in the interests of the whole of the areas of Wellington, Petone, Lower Hutt, and the eastern foreshore, given the right approach by those concerned, by the best possible use being made of present and planned installations. By just sensible co-operation the city, the valley, and the eastern harbour areas can assure themselves of plentiful water supplies at no additional capital cost to any, and at considerably lower operating costs, for a good many years to come."

"The possibilities I have merely suggested broadly," concluded Mr. Wallace. "There are,-of course, many points which would require careful consideration from the various angles of tho different bodies. At first thought it might seem that these views were in such contrast as to be not easy of reconciliation, but that is not my opinion. I think tnat if representatives of all the districts interested in the water supply problem were to get together in conference a very useful start could be made towards reaching a naturally satisfactory solution of the problem. I would suggest that such a conference should be called as soon as possible."