HAWERA WATER SUPPLY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 7873, 7 January 1904, Page 2

HAWERA WATER SUPPLY.

MR CLIP'S REPORT. I

At Wednesdaykight's meeting of the Borough Councillor H. W. Climie, -ngineer, presented^- r3 P ort ™£ hrh re S arfJ *° theHawera watef supply. ,This was read by the clerk as Jbllows : — "In accordar.cd with your instructions I have visited £* head-works of your water supply, &d after taking levels, i etc., I have thf honour to submit tho following reportpn lefetffence to the accompanying plafl) on wbj eh is shown «? c present concrete weir^it wm be seen that the difference i#avel between the upper and lower titoffthe weir is fottr feet; the level of the|inverfc of the intake pipe is two feet abcife the lower side of the weir. It. is therefore evident that if the weir washed aw»y the suply. of water to the town will » cut off; in the present insecure state ofjjfoe wjir this might happen during any iteavy flood. To provide against this, ancl to give a permanent supply of pure water, either of the following methods cas bo adopted : — "First metho^ — To form a. filtering bed by making use of the large area, about 4000 square yards of s>h ingle which has accumulated on, the up.ier side of tKe weir a tunnel or filtering gallery will require to be driven along the bank and below the level 61 the' bottom of the river, ex- [ tending A to the boundary of the Council'!: \ property, aleut four chains j then from , this tunnel numerous earthenware pipes | to be laid under the shingle bed, thus , obtaining a larger filtering area, at a small c<st. Tci keep the river flowfti.' evenly oveV'tha shingle bed, and to prevent the -'shingle, being washed away in flood time, -it vfill be necessary to secure the weir at itsi present level. I propose doing this by constructing a permanent apron with railway iron and large stones, as shown in detail on the plan. It the weir is not made secure and it washes away it means that the bed of the river would be .lowered for at least ten chains up stream, thus necessitating a very muen longer tunnel and losing a good natural niter bed. lam of opinion that this shingle -bed will be found to make efficient falter of sufficient capacity to supply the lOin'.- main, aM that yery little attention W i,- be .. required if care is taken when filling. the toenfehes pver the open-jointed earthenware pipes. "Second method— To extend the filter ing gallery albng<>the banks of the rivor until the reqiurei*-n\>w, 30,000 gallons per hour, is obtained, as near as I can jud« from the flow obtained*' in the trail shaft the tunnel will require to be about twenty chains long, and as the banks of the river are low m places, and not so well suited. I think this plan wil be rather costly, foi the only advantage gained is in not having to secure the weir. 'Third method.— To abandon the pr.j sent intake and go about half a mile fur'fcher up the stream, where there is a very good place for, drawing off the water. y ?j 17 l s t0 fchis P lace 16 feet more head would be obtained, which would increase the hydrostatic pressure in town to 1001b per square inch, and increase the flow in the 10m. main by 120- gallons per minute; but to obtain this .advantage it would be necessary^ to extend the iron main far about three-quarter's of a mile, and abau don the present line of eaithenware pipi*. and also, to obtain clear water in floo-i time, it wauld, be necessary to . construct settling tanks. This method 1 of improving your head-works v,ould be far more costly than th» others, and the present requirements of the town would gnot justify the extra cost. I would therefore recommend the adoptnn of the first-men-tioned method, which. l think will ser/c the town until it is 'found necessary to I Jay a larger main, which will be required in the course of another fifteen or twenty years, judging from the present pro^rass of tho town. I might add that either of the niethdds camjbe carried out without interrupting ths present service. Attachca hereto is an estimate of tho approximate cost of oarryjng out the differeafc methods." Approximate" Estimate of Improving \^ Head->vorks. koi "i method.— lron rails, stones, and labour to strengthen weir, £140; filter tunnel, £150; 1000 feat 6in. earthenware pipes, 1 .man hole, ahi valve, etc., £76; total cost,' £366. tto. 2. -method.— 2o chains of filtering tunnel. £396;, two man-holes and yal/e, etc., £36; compensation for land, et3 . £50; total cost, £482. Ko. 3 method.-HSO .chains lOin. iron main 1 , £850; 40 chains earthenware pipos. £300; concrete tanks, valves, etc., £28;' ; compensation for land, etc., £75; contingencies, etc.; £140; total cost, £1650. The Mayor said ',ha report was clear, concise, and well within their comprehension. He invited Mr Climie (who was present^ to enlarge upen the report if ; he thought it necessary. j Mr,Climi<; said he had nothing further to add to the report, as the plan showed very clearly the proposal he recommended. . ' ' ,-^ln - .~-_^__ v 2» ~Cr DTngli r^Eid^lhT^reat'STdiffibulty to be overcome would be the construction of the weir. Mr Climu i replied that that would practically be a simple matter; iron rails and stones Jwould ha»e to bo used. The engineer then explained a few .latails to Councillors. The Mayor thanked Mr Climie (who assured the Council that if the work were carried out a supply of clear wator woul-J be available), tnd moved that the report be referred to the Works Committee for consideration and to bring up a definite report at the 1 next meeting of the Council. The motion was seconded by Cr Whittaker and .carried.