NORTH SHORE WATER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18355, 22 March 1923, Page 8

NORTH SHORE WATER.

DETERIORATION INCREASED.

WARNING TO CONSUMERS.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

A serious development in connection ■with the contamination of the water supply of the four North Shore boroughs was reported to the Takapuna Borough Council last evening by the Mayor, Mr. A. M. Gould. A sample of water taken from the Devonport main on March 15, said Mr. Gould, "had been found on analysis by the Health Department, to show double the amount of contamination that was indicated at the previous examination. So serious was the increase in deterioration that the Medical Officer of Health had requested the chairman of the Lake Takapuna Board of Control to notify the residents that it was advisable to boil all water used for domestic consumption. The. contamination was, in the opinion of the Health Department officials, of animal originit was not duo to the lake weed. Why this sudden increase should have taken place, added Mr. Gould, was not explained up to the present, but it might have been due to the excessive summer rainfall. He had arranged with the medical officer of health that the department should send an inspector in the morning to make a thorough examination of the lake basin to ascertain whether any particular cause of contamination could be discovered which would be capable of removal. The question of improvising a temporary chlorination plant for the purification of the water drawn from the lake for the boroughs had been raised. Ho had intimated to the Devonport authorities that the Takapuna Council would participate in any expenditure that was in the publip interest. The council decided that its inspector of nuisances should accompany the representative of the Health Department in his inspection of the watershed, and the Mayor and Mr. J. W. Williamson were appointed a committee to co-operate with the Devonport Borough Council in. taking any steps necessary to safeguard the public health, such as a temporary arrangement for chlorination. It was also resolved that a special meeting of the council be held on receipt of the report of the inspection on the district. At a meeting of the Birkenhead Borough Council last evening, the Mayor, Mr. A. Hadfield, stated that the council's chlorinating plant would be delivered at the end of tho month.