CITY WATER SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20767, 9 January 1931, Page 10

CITY WATER SUPPLY.

AMPLE QUANTITY IN STORE.

DRY WEATHER SAFEGUARDS. NO FEAR OF SHORTAGE. Auckland has a plentiful supply of good water for domestic and other purposes. The quantity in storage in the western hills is so great, in spite of the unusually dry December, that on the present average daily consumption there is sufficient water to supply all the city's needs for over 150 days, even if no further rain fell in that period.

A statement made available at the Town Hall yesterday showed that the Huia reservoir is full, the Nihotupu auxiliary dam is overflowing, the main Nihotupu lake is down only 9ft. below the lip of the spillway, and the level of the Waitakere reservoir has dropped less than 3ft. below the overflow. The actual quantities in reserve arc: —Huia, 536,000,000 gallons; Nihotupu, 449,000,000; Nihotupu auxiliary, 70,000,000; and Waitakere, 392,000,000. This gives a total of 1,447,000,000 gallons, and the average daily consumption for December was 9.236,000 gallons. The greatest consumption for one day this summer was 10,760,000 gallons, used on December 29, which was a record for Auckland. Prior to that the greatest consumption for one day was on December 5, 1927, when the draw-off was 10,660,000 gallons. On that occasion the sudden demand for water caused apprehension, as the storage capacity wss not so great as it is to-day, and a restriction on the use of garden hoses was enforced to conserve the supply. Since that time the full capacity of the Huia lake has added to the storage of the supply system in the ranges, and ro such restrictions are now necessary. "While the quantity of water held in reserve in the series of reservoirs gives an assurance of more than 150 days' supply, no account is taken in that computation of the daily stream flow of between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 gallons, which continues to augment the supply even in dry spells when no rain falls in the watersheds. PLIGHT OP GISBORNE. RESTRICTIONS IN FORCE. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORP.ESPONDENT. ] GISBORNE, Thursday. Unless a considerable improvement in the state of the Gisborne water supply is shown within the next few. days, the situation will become precarious. The depth of the water in the reservoir has been reduced to 2ft., and the auxiliary supply, which it had been anticipated could be drawn upon in case of emergency, has been found to have completely dried up.

The present position is due to the abnormal weather of the past three months. Since December 3, only a-quarter of an inch of rain has fallen, while the total since the end of September is less than 3in., compared with the average of over Bin.

Restrictions on the use of water hava been in force for some time, but they have proved ineffective. Efforts are being made to locate other possible sources of water, but go far they have not been successful. Urgent warnings have been issued to the public to conserve tho supply.