WATER SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 July 1939, Page 12

WATER SUPPLY

CITY AND ENVIRONS

NEW APPROACH TO OLD SUBJECT

REGIONAL PLANNING

! The City and Suburban Water Supply Board discussed again today the general policy which should be followed for the development of sources of water supply for the metropolitan area, the city and suburbs, and (the nearby boroughs and counties. !The officers of the board are to consult {the Government Town Planner, ]Vh\ J. |W. Mawson, to ascertain the extent of residential and industrial expansion considered probable in the metropolitan area, and will report to the board at a later meeting. The board considers that only by the co-operation of all local authorities in the area can an adequate and economic future supply of water be assured. The board was set up under an Act of 1937, with a membership representing the city, the Hutt Valley, Eastbourne, and the Hutt County Council. In July, 1929, the City Engineer presented a report discussing several possible sources of supply—the Little Akatarawa, the Whakatikei, and the upper reaches of the Hutt and Pakuratahi Rivers. Lower Hutt and Petone soon after that withdrew from the! scheme, mainly on the ground that j they were assured of a supply of water ] at lower cost from artesian wells. East- | bourne, though obtaining their supplies , from artesian wells at Eastern Hutt, have remained within the board. Upper Hutt has also remained in the scheme. . j Repeated approaches have been j made to the Lower Hutt and Petone Borough Councils that they; should return to the common scheme, but their decision has stood. The driving of a number of wells at Gear Island by the City Council has staved off the need of a major surface supply for the city for a few, but not many, y;ears, but now a more rapid and very extensive development in residential lands and industrial areas, in the Hutt Valley, between Khandallah and Johnsonville, and probably in Tawa Flat, has placed a new emphasis upon a common scheme of development, which should serve the Makara County, Johnsonville, and Tawa Flat as well. COST OF SURVEY. When Lower Hutt and Petone declined invitations to return, to the board for the consideration of taking up the major plan, the board invited their co-operation in a survey upon which future plans could be built, but the boroughs declined. Last October a further approach was made by a letter from the Town Clerk stating that the probable cost of the investigation would be £5000, and proposing that the local authorities represented on the board, with Johnsonville and Makara, should contribute upon a population basis, as follows:—Wellington City, £4255; Eastbourne, £86; Upper Hutt, £147; Hutt County, £340; Johnsonville, £65; and, Makara, £107. Today the replies came before the board and were favourable, though Eastbourne objected in principle to contributing to the cost of the survey while the two main Hutt Valley boroughs, which would benefit by the work done, stood out. It was not a fair thing that others should bear the initial cost and that Lower Hutt and Petone should remain outside, for the survey would be of vital importance to them, said Mr. E. Bowie (Eastbourne). . The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop): There is no doubt: they should all come in. . Councillor W. Appleton asked whether, the board could not get ahead at once with an investigation into the possibilities of the artesian supplies, in j their full development and also their limitations. GREATER DEMAND IN HUTT VALLEY. j What the board required was a full understanding of the Government's intentions regarding housing and industrial development in the Hutt Valley, said Councillor L. McKenzie; until they knew what was planned they could not know how long the artesian supplies were likely to last. Mr. Bowie suggested an approach through Mr. Mawson, who could ask | the local bodies, concerned for particu- ! lars of their supply and for what period j they considered they would remain adequate and hygienic. The draw-off from additional wells last summer undoubtedly affected wells that had been running- for years, said Councillor Appleton; he knew of one instance in which a factory in the lower valley had had a failure in a long-standing supply. Water supply was naturally a vital part of the Government scheme, said the Mayor; in fact, the scheme depended wholly upon adequate water supplies. He thought that the officers should discuss the whole question with Mr. Mawson. I

Mr. Bowie said that new factories were going up every week in the Hutt Valley, and the total draw-off was increasing greatly.

Councillor McKenzie said that he understood that the Government contemplated a population of 50,000 in the Hutt Valley.

In addition to development there, said Councillor Appleton, the Government had recently bought properties between Khandallah and Johnsonville with the idea of a considerable development there.

The board approved the Mayor's suggestion that the officers -should discuss the questions raised with Mr. Mawson.