CITY’S WATER SUPPLY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 259, 30 September 1935, Page 6

CITY’S WATER SUPPLY

WEEK-END INTERRUPTION. NEW CONNECTION WORK. Starting at 1 a.m. yesterday, City Council employees cut off the gravitation water supply to the city by the 12in. tfater main from Tiritea, and for about eight hours afterwards Palmerston North was dependent upon the 9in. main. This was done to permit an important connection to be made between the new 21in. main across the Fitzherbert Bridge, and the existing 12in. main. There will be another interruption early next Sunday to enable a similar connection to be made with the 9in. main, and this will see the finish of work which will have extended over four successive Sundays. Before the supply through the 12in. main was cut off, a tremendous volume of water had to be emptied from the main for just under a mile up Fitzherbert Avenue, and when the connection had been completed it took an hour to fill up the pipe again and rebuild the pressure, which had dropped as low as 51b to the square inch at the pump-house. During the progress of the work the water supply was maintained as fully as possible, but unfortunately there was an insufficient service available to parts of Terrace End. Those who rose in these localities before 7.30 a.m. were fortunate enough to be able to obtain a temporary supply, but by 8 a.m. taps were dry,, and it was not until two hours had elapsed that the supply was restored. Naturally, the interruption created a great. deal of inconvenience to those residents concerned and had they been advised of the possibility of the water supply being cut off, they could have made provision on the preceding night for that eventuality. The position at Terrace End was undoubtedly caused by the draw off in other parts of the town. One effect of the interruption in the supply was to cause leakages from fire plugs after the water had been restored, owing to the dislocation of the spheres covering the air sockets. City Council employees went round later to rectify the trouble.