RODING WATER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 28 April 1937, Page 8

RODING WATER

DETAILS OF SCHEME AGAIN OUTLINED ADDRESS BY MAYOR ASSURANCE REGARDING RATE 111 addressing a meeting held in the Brook street schoolroom last evening on the proposed Roding river water supply scheme for the city and neighbouring districts, the Mayor of Nelson (Mr G. L. Page) said he wished to allay any fears of an excessively burdensome rate. The extra rate in the city would be about 3d with the country districts in the scheme and 4. I ,d in the case of the outlying areas not wishing to be provided for. In speaking to small attendance the Mayor stressed the importance of an adequate supply of water during the dry periods. The public would remember the condition of the water when the dam was low at various drought periods. The year 1934 was an example and it was at that time that many complaints were received. Each year the Council found it necessary to enforce restrictions and the free use of water in the normal summer was limited.

In the last 9 years over 500 houses had been added to the supply in Nelson and with so many more residences a serious position would arise in any further period of drought. The Council wished to make provision now for an adequate supply for the city in the future. The Hume Company offered a scheme which would have cost the Council £9OOO per year. The present scheme would be done for £2OOO per year less and the amount of water supplied would be up to two million gallons per day more. Mr Page stated that the Government grant of £35,000 was a free one and the Council would have complete control of the scheme. EVERY POSSIBLE SCHEME CONSIDERED The Council had fullj* considered every possible scheme and the one decided on was the Roding which could serve both town and adjacent districts.

The Roding scheme as proposed would cost £95-,000 against £57,000 for the most favourable Maitai scheme for the city alone. The difference in the cost was to be borne by the districts outside the city, and the biggest proportion of their share (£25,000) had been granted by the Government. The outside areas were to pay interest and sinking fund on the remaining £12,000 over a period of years. In return those districts would be entitled to one-fifth of the water (600,000 gallons per day) of the 3J million gallons available. The cost of the Roding would be the same to the city as the best Maitai scheme and in addition there would be about 2 million gallons per day extra, in addition of the advantage of being able to give the neighbouring local bodies a supply of water. It had been claimed by a press correspondent that there was little possibility of pollution of pumping wells in the Maitai. The Mayor then read the report of the Health Department on that matter in 1934, when the Department demanded the patrolling of the Maitai watershed. It pointed to the Council having to purchase a large area of land and prevent people using the valley if the pumping wells were to be regarded as the source of supply. Another press correspondent had said that 500,000 gallons per day could be saved on wastage and the Mayor pointed out how absurd that statement was when it was known that only 400,000 gallons per day was flowing into the reservoir in dry periods. Of course there would be water running to waste in wet seasons, when it was not required. It was necessary to provide an abundance of water at the times when it was most required. The City Council was not out to force the proposal onto the ratepayers. The series of meetings was being held for the purpose of allowing the ratepayers to know all the details of the scheme and it would be for them to decide on the day of the poll. WHY SCHEME WAS FAVOURED Both the last Council and the present Council were unanimously in favour of the Roding scheme and on that the proposal was being recommended to the ratepayers to vote for the loan necessary to carry out the work, said the Mayor. The Council favoured the Roding because (1) the cost to the city would be the same as for a Maitai scheme, (2) because two mililon gallons of water per day more would be available for the same money, and (3) because the country districts could be included. “COUNCIL’S FACTS ACCURATELY STATED” Councillor J. A. Harley, in supporting the Mayor, said if the Council could •reach all the ratepayers who now had doubts, he was certain it could prove to them that the present Roding scheme was the scheme which they should support for the present and future fiapply to the city. The site of the intake was ideal and would require only a small weir, but if in future years, many years hence, when the conservation of water might be necessary, a dam could be easily erected for the storage of one hundred million gallons. The water would be taken to Poorman’s Valley by tunnel and into town in a 13 inch pipe. The country would have to provide its own reticulation.

In referring to the extra 3d rate on account of the scheme Councillor Harley said it was not anticipated that the rate woul ’. be collected in the next two years—until it would be necessary to pay interest and sinking fund. In 1928 when the dam was low, if a serious fire had occurred the fire fighting requirements would have emptied the dam in 10 hours, added the speaker. Councillor Harley said the Council had taken the greatest care in preparing its case for the loan in order to g‘ th public the fullest possible detail, with all the facts accurately stated. Some of the press correspondents had been unfair in their criticisms as their statements had been so inaccurate. One correspondent said the water in the Roding was only 1,800,000 gallons per day but such a statement was pioved to be false when compared with the accurate measurements given

by the City Engineer, the consulting engineer, (Mr F, J. Williams), and the Public Works Department, who after separate tests at various times agreed 01 th- quantity of 3,250,000 gallons per day. In answer to a question it was explaine ' that the place where the proposed scheme was to be commenced was fiv: miles down the valley below the p ' t where years ago Mr Aitcheson Smith investigated the possibilities of increasing the city’s supply from the upper reaches of the Roding.