CITY WATER SUPPLY SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13097, 9 February 1906, Page 6

CITY WATER SUPPLY SCHEME.

COUNCILLORS VISIT NIHO-

TUPU.

JOURNEY THROUGH BUSH.

A PARK OF 10,000 ACRES.

Notwithstanding the fact that their- visit I to the Waitakerei Falls on Wednesday had entailed some arduous travelling and many stiff and aching muscles, the city councillors were on trek at eight a.m. yesterday, en route for Nihotupu, and while Wednesday's journey was a somewhat trying one, yesterday's was stiff enough to satisfy the most energetic. There were present in the party yesterday: His Worship the Mayor (Mr. A. M'. Myers). Messrs. J. Court, L. J. Bagnall, C. Grey. M. Casey, W. E. Hutchison, H. M. Smeeton, G. Knight, and A. E. Glover (councillors), Mr. H. W. Wilson (town clerk), Mr. H. Munro Wilson, C.E., Mr. J. Carlaw (waterworks engineer), and Mr. J. A. Pond (colonial analyst). The party left the Town Hall at eight a.m. in two drags, and in one the members of the Streets Committee had foregathered. Even on the journey the energetic councillors were at. work, for they held a meeting of the Streets Committee while their " commit-tee-room" rattled over the road to Waikumete at a spanking pace. It was a pretty long meeting too, extending from Symondsstreet to Waikumeto railway crossing. After reaching Waikumete station, the Niho-tUPU-We?t Coast Road was taken, and very soon the long ascent of the range commenced, the party walking up the steep portion. l 111 From near " Range more' and Beficlall S property magnificent panoramic views of bolt) the MiUlllfat-U and Waitemata Harbours were obtained, and from one. point of vantage tho visitors were afforded a bird's eye view of the whole country surrounding Auckland City. To the left lay the long dark ridges and mighty folds of the forestclad Waitakerei Ranges and the great Henderson Valley and Waikumete district, while further over were New Lynn, Avondale, and Mount Albert; behind this again appeared the blue sparkling waters of the beautiful Waitemata Harbour, the white dwellings of the far ilung city, and over in the background the whole country of North Shore and the giant of the Gulf, Rangitoto. Coromandel Ranges showed dim and azure- in the distance. Straight out in front, the country towards the Waikato lay spread out as one huge landscape garden, and away to the right was the vast expanse expanse of Manukau Harbour. It was one of the finest views in a country of beautiful views. J THE PROPOSED RESERVOIR. Another mile or so of tramping, and a short ride in the drags, brought the party down into the Nihotupu watershed, and the vehicles were halted on. the flat near Judson's, where lunch was to be served. j Prior to "that interesting event, however, ' the councillors visited the site of the proposed reservoir. This work, of course, is not one for the immediate future, as it is anticipated that, with the present Nihotupu running water supply, and the Waitakerei supply, when that is brought in, there will he ample for the Greater Auckland district for many years to come. Still, however, there are always possibilities, and therefore a site for an impound- , ing reservoir hits been selected. This site is an enormous natural basin on the upper creek area, enclosing the " sawmill" clearing, and, when necessity calls for it, a reservoir there would have a storage capacity of upwards of 300,000,000 gallons. At the old sawmill there is a. heap of kauri sawdust containing probably many thousands of yards of stuff, and as the drainage from this heap of rotting material, after rain, flows into the Nihotupu Creek, it is deemed expedient to remove the whole heap at an early date. It is not suggested that the presence of this sawdust is occasioning any pollution of the water supply, but it undoubtedly ministers to a discolouration which manifests itself at certain times. This heap of sawdust is from 16ft to 20ft deep in places, and its discolouring influence must be' very considerable, but there is no reason to suppose that it would be injurious to health. Then, again, the soil of a Large portion of the Nihotupu basin is of a red colour, and! very friable, so that, where vegetation had been removed, rains would inevitably carry some f>i this colouring medium into the supply sources. A reservoir on the site mentioned would, of course, largely cure the discolouration, by acting as a settling tank, and at present the dam at the Nihotupu Fall is a valuable adjunct in this respect. The Council, however, proposes to effectively deal with the sawdust heap by burning. One method proposed is to trench the great heap, and pile timber into the trenches, and then to set fire to the lot, and another is to establish a furnace there, and feed the material into it. At all events, the work will be taken in hand. The accommodationhouse buildings formerly occupied by Mr. Elliman, and the stables which were situated near the reservoir site, have now all been removed, so that there is no danger of pollution from thait cause, and the Council is now treating for the other privatelyowned properties in the watershed area. The only occupied residence on the watershed now is Mr. Judson's. There are various other buildings that have been residences, or intended as residences, but these are all in a state of disrepair. The areai of the watershed, including Quiun's Creek, is about 2720 acres, being little less than that of the Waitakerei supply, and all that remaims to be secured by the Council are the following holdings: —A. C. Caughey's three acres, McElwain's one acre z Judson's 247 acres, Richard Smythe's 43 acres, S. Smythe's 152 acres, R. and S. Smythe's 321 acres, Hesketh's 142 acres, Sander's 81 acres, and W. G. Smythe's 27 acres. When these properties are all secured, the watershed will be absolutely free of any possible source of pollution, except through the large areas of rotting vegetable matter, and this, no doubt, will be cleaned up, and even now there is nothing to suggest any pollution. THE IMPOUNDING DAM. Lunch was announced at mid-day, and immediately afterwards a start was made on the long trek for Titirangi reservoir. A well-defined track led from the road at the reservoir site down the leading spur between the Huia and Nihotupu basins, and the path was between walls of dense, tangled forest, and magnificent panoramic views of the Huia Park away on the other side, the Manukau Harbour far down below, were opened up at every point where the bush to the right of the track showed a clearing, Leaving the ridge, the visitors found themselves confronted with a slip and slide scramble down the steep face to the Nihotu|pu impounding dam, and beyond one or two involuntary glissades the "climb down" was negotiated in safety. Then came a scramble along a plank beneath the great leaning timber dam, and those who thought of " what would happen if the dam gave way" were consoled by the thought that the jump over the Great Divide would , be so sudden that they would never know

what had hit them. This immense dam holds back the waters for 35 chains, but the reservoir thus formed is really only a settling tank for the precipitation of all matter held in suspension by the creek water, but nevertheless it has created a lovely artificial lake, the beauty of which compensates in some measure for the almost total loss of the once glorious Nihotupu Fall. THE GREAT PIPE LINE. From Nihotupu dam the long pipe line to Titirangi reservoir commences. The crest of the fall, just below the dam, is about 600 ft, and the Titirangi reservoir between 400 ft and 500 ft above sea level. The lowest flow- ever recorded over the ! dam is 1,250,000 gallons per diem, while in winter the flow is from I 12,000,000 to 14,000,000 gallons, and the average dry weather flow about 2,000,000 , gallons per day. Commencing then at the dam, a 15in main traverses the eight miles to Titirangi reservoir, then there are two miles of 12in cast-iron main, two miles and a-half of lOin main, and two miles and aliaTt of 9in main leading to the Western Springs, where the water enters the pumping main, 21iu hi diameter, leading to Ponsonby reservoir. Following the long winding bench, cut for the pipe track, the visitors found themselves in. the great Nihotupu gorge, probably the grandest North Island forest spectacle in the Auckland district. Hundreds of feet below was the tiny stream from Nihotupu Creek, wending its way down through the scented sliade, and then both sides of the precipitous gorge were lined with dense forests of tree ferns, nikau palms, and trees, and vegetation of all descriptions, while above towered the conglomerate and old volcanic rock, out of which that great bench had been cut. On every hand fern glades and vistas of palm and fern frond and clinging vines and tall trees revealed themselves, for the pipe track leads through dense forest. At Quinn's Creek horses were in waiting, and the long ride and walk along the benching, and across the mains at every few yards, was properly commenced. In single tile the procession wended its way around bluffs, through great cuttings, over made tracks and embankments, and the great silence of those forest glades' was only broken by the clink of the horses' hoofs on the pipes, or the voices of the visitors, as the riders gave tip their steeds to the walkers for a spell. One noble steed fell on the way, but the only damage occasioned was a skinned' nose for the rider. Another persisted in sitting down on the main for a rest occasionally, but otherwise the commando, had an uneventful journey. The sun radiating from the rock and the closed-in situation preventing the advent of any cooling breeze, the atmosphere for many miles of the journey was about baking heat, and the sting of sun-burned faces and necks was added to the woes of the weary travellers, but a little later the vast scene of the gorge and the farreaches of the Manukau opening up was compensation for all ills. Somewhere about five o'clock the Titirangi reservoir was reached after an arduous trek of somewhere near 15 miles, including the journey from the proposed reservoir site to Nihotupu dam. The actual pipe-line measurement would, of course, give a lesser distance, say about 12 miles travelled, but, as the pipes take various short cuts over trestle viaducts and through numerous small tunnels, 15 miles is a low estimate for the journey. The Titirangi reservoir, holding only a few hundred thousand gallons, is really more in the nature of a concrete break pressure tank, but it was part of the scheme, and so had to be visited. At Mr. Taylor's house below the reservoir, tea, scones, cakes, etc., had been provided. This kindness was appreciated by the tired travellers. The drags having journeyed round during the afternoon, they picked up the party there at half-past I six, and the city was reached again at eight o'clock. A NATIONAL PARK. When the Waitakerei water reaches the city the Nihotupu supply will be cut off for cleaning-up purposes, but it is still intended to use it as a constant supply, and it gives a minimum flow of one and a-half million gallons per diem, which, added to. the Waitakerei supply, described in yesterday's issue, will give a constant minimum supply of upwards of 6,000,000 gallons a day. In the great Huia Park, and the watersheds of the Nihotupu and Waitakerei, when all purchased, the city of Auckland will possess a park of over 10j000 acres, nearly all in magnificent dense forest, surely one of the greatest and most beautiful assets possessed by any colonial city. Included in that area are extensive tracts of kauri forest containing some giant specimens of the monarchs of the New Zealand bush, bom hundreds of years ago, vast deep gorges clad with forests of tree-ferns and nikau palms, thousands of acres of dense standing bush, precipitous cliffs, from which views unequalled in any other part of the province may be obtained, pretty creeks and waterfalls, sanctuaries for native birds, and, in the future, vast artificial lakes. A question the city will have to .consider at some time in the near future will be the means whereby those great solitudes of the ranges can be made easily accessible to visitors. At present it is very doubtful if more than a mere hundred or so out of the thousands of citizens liave ever toured the country, which is now to become the city's great park, and no resort should be more popular, provided, of course, the requisite precautions against any pollution of the water supply are taken. The difficulty, of course, is in making the great park easily accessible. No doubt generations yet to come will have electric traction up the ranges, but what is now required is a passable road, and it is suggested that by-and-bye, after the water supply schemes are completed, the Nihotupu pipes should be moved back to hug the rock face all the way, leaving the benching free far a roadway, to be connected with a road down the leading spur between the Nihotupu and Huia basins. This, of course, would entail a fairly heavy expenditure, but it will be well worth it in future. With a road around and through the Nihotupu gorge, an accessible track into Huia Park, and a road round to Nihotupu Falls, from Waitakerei Fallsand the latter would not necessarily mean a heavy outlay—the city of Auckland would indeed have reason to be proud of its rich and great asset, the watershed park.

================ At tho adjourned meeting of the Auckland Cremation Society, held yesterday, it was resolved that five pamphlets on cremation be sent to members of Parliament and to the councillors of the city and boroughs. The members of the society were urged to take active steps to increase* the roll of members. It was stated that the first, object of the society was to induce the City Council to take the matter up and orect"a public crematorium. The health officers, if was stated, arc of opinion that crematoria should be established in all the principal cities of the colony, ami it was fair to expect that tho Government would subsidise the expenditure of the Oitv Council in this connection by ! £ for £. The cremation societies of AuckI 'land, Christchurch, and Dunedin • are to 1 work together to get such a subsidy made general to any municipal Ixxly in the'colony. California Syrup of Figs is a favourite with children for its pleasant flavour, and with mothers for its purity aad truly beneficial effects.