HOSING FORBIDDEN

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 10

HOSING FORBIDDEN

FEAR OF DROUGHT

WIDE DISTRICT AFFECTED

RELIEF IN THE FUTURE ?

Notice has been given by the Town Clerk of the intention of the City Council to take action against those who ignore the city bylaw against hosing gardens unless they have a water meter installed, and that the council means business has been made clear to a batch of householders who were called on by the water department's inspectors last evening. The bylaw which prohibits hosing without a meter is a standing regulation—at no time in the year is unrestricted hosing permitted in ,the city —but it is administered in a reasonable way, and action is seldom taken when there is plenty of water in the reservoirs and dams and when there is no reason to anticipate a shortage. All tlie same, those who hose in mid-winter do run the risk of prosecution. At present the position is somewhat threatening. It is-not that the reservoirs are low, but they will be low if the spell of hot dry weather continues for any length of time. Nobody can say whether it will or not, though normally this is not the drought season, which in past difficult years has fallen considerably later in the summer months, .February, March, and April. SHOULD DRY SPELL PERSIST. In normal weather the Wainui stream flows in far greater volume than the mains to the city from the Morton dam and the lower reservoir require, and the excess flow runs away over the spillways and down stream. So in the Orongorongo Valley the normal stream flow is far greater than can be taken by the pipe line. There is no storage whatever in the Oroiigorongo Valley, for the main leads direct to the Karori storage, which may be regarded as in a sense tho storage section of the Orongorongo system. Should the present dry spell harden into drought conditions, steam flow will fall below main flow, and the city will be dawing upon its storage. The total storage is about 200,000,000 gallons, a big figure as a figure, but it has b.een many times pointed out that- it is hot big enough to be safe, for it represents with the dwindling stream flow into the reservoirs only 40 or 50 days' supply at best if the city is careful, and considerably less than 40 days if Wellington people fail to recognise that the restriction on the use of water is not just a whim on the part of the council's officers, but is dictated by hard facts. As long as there is a likelihood —even a possibilit}'—of the dry weather continuing unbroken by real rain, for light showers disappear in evaporation without affecting stream flow to any useful extent, there is a real need for care in the use of water. IF WARNING IS IGNORED. The city fathers, as represented by their officers, who state the water supply position, the Town Clerk, who gives formal notice, the inspectors, who take names and addresses, and ■ the City Solicitor, who proceeds in. Court, are essentially kind-hearted people and have no desire 'to prosecute, but the householder who ignores the hosing bylaw just at present is probably in for trouble. He may object, and probably will, that a few months ago he as a ratepayer gave the council authority to go ahead with a scheme for the augmentation of the city water supply from artesian bores near the mouth of the Hutt Eiver. That is so, but unfortunately this augmentation cannot be made effective for some time yet, \ though it probably will be so by next! summer. IN THE SUBURBAN AREAS. Wellington City's position is slightly different from that of the suburban boroughs. In the city the question of storage is a main issue, but in the Hutt Valley the problem is rather one of pumping, for underground there is a supply of artesian water which is practically inexhaustible. Both the Lower Hutt and Petone Borough Councils have issued warnings that hoses must not be used other than when held in the hand; that is, lawn sprinklers, hose stands (the old garden fork, for instance), and the various whirligig sprayers are not allowed. . A similar rule is supposed to hold at Eastbourne, but is at present' being rather badly forgotten, for so long did Eastbourne people manage without any sort of adequate supply that this year, the first summer of full supply; they are convinced that they simply cannot get along at all without hundreds of gallons, maybe thousands, on the front lawn and the back grass patch.. The borough officials, thinking of the cost of pumping thousands of excess gallons, are not nearly so pleased as they might be; and it is probable, that the handhosing rule will bo enforced at Eastbourne, too. In the Upper Hutt area there is another rule about hosing, which is prohibited between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., but even so the lack of, pressure is so bad in some parts of the area served that the hose will not work at any time, and homes or other buildings which have water services above the ground floor can get no water during a considerable part of the day. Had Upper Hutt a eewerage system the position would be, to say the least, extremely difficult. As reported last night parts of the Johnsonville area are worried over short supplies or the total failure of house tank storage, and the same holds good for the various outer bays where reliance is placed on tanks or small stream and storage systems.