SEWERAGE DISPOSAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21144, 30 March 1932, Page 13

SEWERAGE DISPOSAL.

Sir, —There are, to ray mind, two vtiry serious objections to the proposed Auckland drainage scheme, viz. : (1) Contamination to waters and foreshores of all residential marine areas in the Waiternata and llauraki districts. (2) Criminal waste of valuablo fertilising material. In regard to the first, very few cities in the world can boast, like Auckland, such desirable marino suburbs with excellent facilities for bathing and boating within easy reach of the town centres, so why ruin them ? The new scheme proposes two outfalls, practically on the Ilangitoto Channel. Even if the sewerage is treated before discharge, it is highly undesirable that the effluent of the sewerage of a, quarter-million people should be discharged there. In tile case of high tides. it inevitably would be driven back into the harbour with unavoidable bad results. Furthermore, there would be a serious danger of contaminating all shellfish supplies down the gulf, with grave risks of typhoid epidemics. If the disposal centre was placed on the plains toward the south-east, the effluent could be utilised in irrigating and fertilising large tracts of lands for flax growing, etc., and the sludge deposits in the works treated and sold to fanners as manure. By this means, flax and manure, help to make the scheme self-sup-porting, besides keeping our seaways pure and wholesome. With the elimination of horses, owing to motor transport,, every available means of rendering the land fruitful should be used and not wasted. Sanitas.