TO SAVE WATER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 100, 24 October 1942, Page 6

TO SAVE WATER

FREE WASHERS FOR TAPS

So serious are the possibilities of a water shortage this summer, if it should turn out to be a dry season, that a plan, announced by the Mayor (Mr. Hislop) today, to save drips from taps, is to be put into operation. Drips are a tremendous drain upon the water supply. There are hundreds of thousands of taps in Wellington, and a fair proportion drip. In twelve months one dripping tap can waste over 40,000 gallons of water.

The plan is for the free rewashering of taps right through the city and suburbs, and householders and occupiers of business premises are asked to cooperate and to notify the waterworks branch of the City Engineer's Department if -taps need attention. Telephone 43-190 is to be used, Mondays to Fridays. Names and addresses and a general brief statement of what is required should be given.

For some years past the waterworks branch has undertaken the rewashering of taps as part of the normal duties of inspectors on their rounds; the present plan is therefore an extension of that service, with a larger number of inspectors and with, given the co-operation of the public, calls to homes or buildings which might not be reached for some time by the regular inspections. Where renewal work is required the occupiers or owners will be advised to employ their private plumbers.

The water position is not such that there need be apprehension at the moment; the precautions are being taken to ensure that the position will not deteriorate early in the summer, leaving so small a margin of stored water that an acute shortage may be faced later, and also to avoid the necessity of expensive and continued pumping of water to the higher levels. Reports of dripping taps or other faults in individual systems will be classified and the work will be carried out round by'round, covering the ground as rapidly as possible. The inspectors will go on foot.