PRECIOUS WATER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21880, 16 August 1934, Page 8

PRECIOUS WATER

LONDON AND THE DROUGHT PROSPECT OF RATIONING REDUCTION IN THAMES FLOW [from our own correspondent] LONDON, July 10 "One third of an inch of rain every third night," said Lord Desborough, chairman of the Thames Conser\ ancy Board. "That's what we want. We shall have to pray for it." The average daily flow over Teddington Weir last month— including the water taken by the Metropolitan Water Board—was only 275,000,000 gallons, compared with a standard of 819 000,000 gallons and 320,000,000 gallons in June, 1921, the last great drought year. Rainfall in the past twelve months in the Thames catchment area totalled only 17.9 in., compared with a standard of 28.24 m., and with 22.4 in. in the twelve months ended June, 1921. In the present hot weather over '30,000,000 gallons a day is lost by evaporation from the river alone. "From June 21 to 28," said Lord Desborough,, "we had an inch and ahall: of rain. That was of the greatest possible assistance, especially to agriculturists, but it did not help the river permanently. Water which comes down like that very soon rims off. The total flow at Teddington went up to 400,000,000 gallons a day, but it soon ran off. The Drought of 1921 "We are rather worse off than we were at the same period in the drought of 1921. The daily flow over the Teddington Weir, which the Metropolitan Water Board leases, has been reduced, under emergency legislation, from I<o to 100 million gallons. The need of the Metropolitan Water Board to supply its 7,500,000 consumers must come before everything else. The conI servancy board will have seriously to consider whether the amount of flow should not be rationed." Watering of Rotten Row has been suspended. Riders have been asked not to use the Row between Albert Gate and Hyde Park Corner after 9 a.m. each day. The dust annoys people who are not riding. . A number of people in and around London have been fined 30s each for ignoring the restrictions on the use of water, and using garden hoses without permission. The average consumption for each person is 26§ gallons a day. An ordinary iin. garden hose consumes 259 gallons an hour, so its use by a single person for one hour equals the quantity of water consumed by about ten persons in a day. Clearness of Atmosphere In the 1921 drought, when only three weeks' supply was left, the Water Board reduced the service between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. by lowering the pressure in the pipes. It is understood that, if rationing is deemed necessary, the water supply for houses may be cut off at certain times of the day and night. A remarkable feature of the heat wave is the clearness of the air. An Imperial Airways pilot stated on alighting at Croydon from the Continent that'the air over south-east England was crystal clear. "At a height of 6000 ft- above the Surrey hills," he said, "I could see the whole of southeast England from north of the Thames estuary round the coast to the Isle of Wight—a distance of more than '7O miles on either side of my air liner. Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and parts of Essex and Hampshire were spread out below me, and moving trains and motor-cars gave it the appearance of a huge animated map."