A WORD FROM THE WATER BOARD

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 58, 10 March 1938, Page 8

A WORD FROM THE WATER BOARD

One of the most retiring of, all the local bodies, the Wellington Water Board, has suddenly intervened in public affairs to suggest that a major water supply from the higher Hutt basin should again become the subject of a report by the City Engineer, with.the help of the Town Clerk.' The position is'that various local bodies have been telling themselves that they can get along for the time being with smaller and cheaper water supply measures, without incurring the cost of the larger Hutt basin scheme, which is, however, recognised to be a necessity of the future—nobody will say when. There will be a time when popula-tion-pressure in one of the boroughs, or perhaps in more" than one of them, will compel determined local efforts to make; a Hutt gravitational supply a reality; bul the present initiative on the Water Board comes from a representative not of a borough but of the Hutt County Council. He is none the* less to be commended for keeping the big conception >of a Hutt. gravitational supply fyefore the eyes of the people of the boroughs and also the people of the rapidly developing^ outlying suburbs, t some of which s are in counties.

' The water supply interests of the population of the Corporation of Wellington, the harbour bays, the west coast up to and possibly beyond Paekakariki, and'the Hutt galley'are really one; but their'local governing bodies are several, and thus water supply becomes linked with local government reform, which seems to have retired to the back of the political stage. When a forward move will be made either with the local regional proposal to extend the boundaries of Greater Wellington, or with the Government's local government reform plans, is, like the realisation of the water scheme, uncertain. ,Water supply has been in various countries a utility medium for realising schemes of extended local government, and when the Water Board, was formed there was hope that an extension of metropolitan and outer-borough co-operation (if not unity) • would result. The full name of the board is Wellington City and Suburban Water Board, but the suburban participation and the co-opqrativc 'ideal were discounted when ' Lower Hutt and Petone seceded. At presenl the unifying sentiment is sluggish, lacking a droughty summer, bul il is interesting to note that the Water Board tries to build up public opinion at least once in every three years. i