THE WATER WE DRINK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13050, 15 December 1905, Page 6

THE WATER WE DRINK.

ANALYST'S REPORT. Reporting on the city water supply at Western Springs, Mr. D. Pond, colonial analyst, informs the City Council thai the water from the main spring showed butlittle variation in its chemical constituents when compared with the analyses of. 1902. The hardness of the water remained practically the same, while the beautiful transparency was undiminished. The Nihotapu water was quite equal to the main spring as far as chlorine, phosphoric acid', nitrates and ammonias were concerned, but the dissolved organic matter, turbidity and discolouration from peaty matter and vegetable debris materially reduced its value.. The- water was only 'half as hard as the main spring water. A bacteriological examination of the water revealed 25 microbes per cubic centimetre in the main: spring water, 236 in the Nihotapu main, and 67 in the Ponsonby reservoir, the last being an admixture of the first, two. In the report of June, 1899, the service standpipes connected with Khyber Pass and Ponsonby reservoirs gave respectively 7.2 per c.c. and 30 per c.c. As compared to the number 236 found in the .' Nihotapu water, in July, 1900, there were stated to be 341. per c.c. from the mouth-of the stream, and 482 per c.c. in the water taken from the top of the waterfall. Mr. Pond considers that as these numbers are considerably higher than those found in the' main spring at the pumping station, an effort should be made to reduce them. The natural filter beds at the Western Springs are' in excellent condition, and the water flowing normally from them is exceptionally pure. ••; .:■.; '