THE CITY’S SEWERAGE SYSTEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 14 September 1936, Page 2

THE CITY’S SEWERAGE SYSTEM

(To The Editor)

Sir, —The disclosures regarding Nelson’s drainage system are unmistakably disconcerting, particularly at i>lie present juncture. At the moment we have an organisation, (recently formed) to push Nelson ahead. There are hundreds of working people here earnestly anxious to see Nelson ’‘advance” —and what sort of a show have they in face of what has just been revealed? In the coming months Nelson is likely to have many hundreds of visitors from all parts of New Zealand. The Bands’ Contests, and the Fire Brigades’ Conference are both to be held in Nelson in the early months of next year. Yet after all said and done drainage system can be very little worse, or better, than it has been during the past thirty years. It was unsatisfactory at the close of the contract. It is still unsatisfactory and likely to remain so for some time, after all the good money that has been “invested” in it. At the time the drainage was put down, it is only fair to state that the present City Engineer was not in the employ of the Nelson City Council —and the defective character of the system is not due so much to any flaw in the plans—or' scheme I —but rather to the way the work was carried out' by tiro workmen employed. Competant observers at the time pointed out in “The Mail” over and over again, that we were inevitably burying future trouble which was found to rise again and with disastrous results. After the pipes were placed in position the method of filling in was aparently deplorable. It was contract work, and each man had to fill in, in a day, a certain number of yards. It appeared that so long as he did this it did not matter how lie filled in his allotted space—nor how long or how short. The quicker it took him the better for him. Huge boulders were thrown on the newly laid pipes many of them, it is stated, were broken instantly, and they have been in a broken condition ever since. Is it any wonder that Nelson’s “New Drainage System” has never been an unqualified success—the septic tank—an adjunct to the drainage system, seems to have been unsatisfactory since its inception. j?ossibly this project should never have been entertained—but had the pipes been laid with care and the drains filled in a's they should have been filled we would have been clear of all this trouble now. I am, etc R.S. Nelson 12th September.