SCARCITY OF WATER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 112, 15 May 1939, Page 10

SCARCITY OF WATER

JOHNSONVILLE'S SHORTAGE

A water shortage which is beginning to assume serious proportions is being experienced at present in Johnsonville. Houses on the higher levels are the ones mostly affected, but since Thursday a large number of residents have received very little water. There is not enough pressure in the storage dam to supply the township, and as water is made available it is consumed by users on the lower levels. Owing to the fact that today was washing day there was a bigger demand than usual, and housewives felt its absence acutely.

The dry summer, with its long period of drought, is the chief cause of the shortage. At a recent meeting of the Town Board reference was made to the question of the water supply, and the general opinion of members was that they had never seen the level of water so' low in Johnsonville before. It was stated'that the year had been the driest for 50 years. The board received a deputation from residents on the Hawtrey Estate recently regarding the supply of the water on the estate, and it was pointed out that people had to carry water to their residences in tins.. Since then the board has extended a pipe line to serve the estate, which has become an additional drain on the supply.

A resident of Johnsonville told "The Post" today that he thought the board had not given sufficient warning to consumers to conserve the available amount of water. If people had known earlier they would have been able to use a greater amount of water now. He also considered that there had not been a systematic rationing of water to residents, as the lower levels, on account of their better position, were able to receive more water than the higher levels. His house had had no water since Thursday, he said, and no one in his household had been able to wash or bath. He had seen another man carrying water in buckets from a friend's place to his own at 6.30 on Sunday morning.

At the meeting of the Town Board tonight the question of the water supply to the township will be fully discussed.