CITY'S WATER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23002, 1 April 1938, Page 10

CITY'S WATER

I)E.Y SPELL DEFIED

NO RISK OF SHORTAGE ADEQUATE SUPPLIES STORED m The fact tlint there is no risk of a water shortage in Auckland as a result of the dry summer was stressed by Mr. C. Bailey, chairman of the Public Services Committee of the City Council, in commenting yesterday on a remark made by the Mayor of Devonport, Mr. H. F. W. Mciikle, regarding the possibility of Devonport obtaining water from tbc Waitakerc supply. Mr. Meikle, at a meeting of the Devonport Borough Council, expressed doaibt as to the efficacy of such a proposal and stated that in a dry season the city had barely sufficient water for its own requirements. Mr. Bailey said Mr. Meiklc's statement gaye an entirely erroneous impression of the city's water resources. The full storage in tins reservoirs in the Waitakerc ranges was 1,569,000,000 gallons and yesterday morning the gauge readings at the reservoirs gave a total of 1,405,000,000 gallons after an abnormally dry spell. "At the end of January," said Mr. Bailey, "in the middle of an unusually dry summer, the storage was 1,338,000,000 gallons. This amount, together with running water in the streams of the catchments, which has never dropped below .3.000,000 gallons a day. would sujiply the present summer demand of 11,000.000 gallons a dav, even if no rain fell in the interval, for nearly six additional months. The council's calculations regarding the capacity of the city's water resources, Mr. Bailey added, were based on the remote but not impossible contingency of three consecutive, years of deficient rainfall. Under those conditions, the catchments were capable of supplying a mean annual demand of 12,000.000 gallons a day, rising to a peak summer demand of 14,000,000 to 15,000,000 gallons. "These figures are 30 per cent above the present consumption," said Mr. Bailey, "and the system .could supply Northcotc, Takapuna and Devonport without the draw-off being very noticeable. In addition, the city has made purchases and carried out surveys or additional catchment areas and, if the necessity arises, is in a position to put in hand without delay works for the augmentation of the supply."