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DRAINAGE SCHEME

LOCAL BODY IMPASSE FURTHER ADVItJE PROPOSED REPORT BY OUTSIDE EXPERTS OUTLET TO TASMAN SEA An impasse seems to have been reached in Auckland over the very necessary improvement to the sewerage scheme. Judging by the attitude adopted by many of the major local bodies which will be involved in the scheme devised by Mr. H. H. Watkins, engineer to the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board, for extending the Orakei outfall to Brown's Island and discharging a treated and innocuous effluent into the Motukorea Channel, there is little promise of a satisfactory solution of the problem being reached at least in the near future. ' Many of these local bodies have shown a preference for a scheme that would carry the effluent to the Tasman Sea at a point near the Manukau Heads, but, as in the ease of the Brown's Island proposal, they show little disposition to commit themselves to the heavy cost involved. Both the Auckland Harbour Board, which is concerned -with the pollution of tidal waters, and the Health Department, are obviously impatient of the present delay. There is a firm belief in many quarters that decisive action is required and the question is being raised whether Auckland will not have to face the forced adoption of an adequate scheme and its development in th<? interests of public health. The Problem of Finance The opinion is general that the report presented by Mr. Watkins from an engineering standpoint and based as it is on the present financial resources of the district is a very valuable one, but there is also a growing public opinion against the adoption of Brown's Island as the outfall as proposed in the report. The suggested alternative is an outlet to the Tasman Sea, involving considerable additional cost, and it would seem that the issue before the interested local bodies is whether they are prepared to face this outlay, with the prospect of gaining a drainage scheme that will meet the needs of the district practicajly for all time. As a first step out of the impasse it has been suggested that some outside expert advice might be obtained with the idea of guiding the local bodies. Taking Mr. Watkins' report as their basis, these experts could give such advice as would enable the local bodies to review the problem again with the possibility of reaching a decision that would bo more favourable to early action. Comparison of Costs There will be need for taking the long view when that decision is, made, in the general design of his proposed scheme Mr. Watkins made provision for an ultimate total area of 125 square miles and an ultimate population of (325,000 persons, which total he expected would be reached in the year 1970, the estimated population of the city side of the harbour at that date being 550,000. The scheme fjr treatment works and outfall at Brown's Island was estimated to cost ultimately £1,360,000, although the first instalment, providing for the maximum flow from Orakei, was estimated to cost £520,000. It has to be remembered that eventually Brown's Island will be called upon to'dfea-1 with sewage greatly in excess of the present capacity of Orakei and that possibly at some future date the change to the west coast will have to be made. In his report Mr. Watkins stated that disposal by dilution at the Manukau Heads would afford a particularly satisfactory solution of the sewage disposal problem of the southern area of the drainage district, but he pointed out that such a project must be regarded as impracticable for many years to" come, if considered from the financial point of view. Mr. Watkins estimated that the total cost of this • scheme would probably exceed the sum of £1,900,000, and that an initial sum of at least £1,450,000 would have to be expended before the system could be utilised for diverting the sewage flow from the Orakei outfall to the Manukau Heads. However, by expending the estimated initial sum provision would also bo made for the sewage flow from the Onehunga and Mount Roskill outfalls, -which now go into the Manukau Harbour.

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19350910.2.110

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22210, 10 September 1935, Page 10

Word Count
688

DRAINAGE SCHEME New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22210, 10 September 1935, Page 10

DRAINAGE SCHEME New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22210, 10 September 1935, Page 10