Other Towns Have Water Troubles

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22948, 17 May 1949, Page 4

Other Towns Have Water Troubles

WITH summer consumption of water limited by the capacity of the pipeline from Waingake, townspeople of Gisborne have an annual problem which will be solved only when the pipeline is renewed. Gisborne is not the only town which has its water troubles, however.

In the Commonwealth territory surrounding Canberra, steps have been taken recently to raise the level of the famous Cotter reservoir by 50 or 60ft. in order to meet the mounting consumption demand in the Federal capital and guard against summer shortages.

ures fixed in 1937 by Messrs. Vickerman and Lancaster, consulting- engineers, in a survey of the water requirements of the town of Gisborne.

Undoubtedly the Gisborne average would increase substantially but for the pipeline restriction, but it would not top Melbourne’s 110 gallons per head per day. Melbourne has a big industrial consumption.

Canberra’s water consumption rises to the astounding average of 450 gallons per head per day in the summer months. This compares with an average of about 85 or 00 gallons in Gisborne, the fig-

Canberra’s exceptionally high rate of consumption is attributed mainly to

the garden-city lay-out of the capital, with large areas given over to public gardens and other features which would became scorched earth hut for liberal applications of water. Private gardens also consume a terrific volume of water there-

Western States of America are facing not merely a question of, getting water into the cities, but also an actual famine 'at the sources. The great rivers which rise in the Rocky Mountains are now subject to rationing agreements among adjacent States, based on their calculated capacity to supply city populations and irrigation projects. With new irrigation demands increasing every year, the supply is already short of demand, and deepwell pumping is further reducing the potential supply from ground sources.