HIGH LEVELS WATER SUPPLY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1831, 10 April 1907, Page 63

HIGH LEVELS WATER SUPPLY

VISIT W THE BROOKLYN

RESERVOIR

WHAT IS BEING DONE.

There has never before been a summer in Wellington during which the wail for water has been so insistent. Our periFwas first emphasised bv the coincidental bursting of the main along tho Hutt road half an hour before the breaking out of the fire m Lambton quay that left so ugly a seal in the heart of the city.' Then, owing to the phenomenally fine weather experienced (for this part, of the wc-rid) minor droughts were experienced m the tank-supply area encircling the city;' but, fortunately, just as the pinch was being felt, 'relief-giving ram arrived, amid general rejoicing. As a fitting conclusion, one of the . pipq bridges at Lower Hutt was carriea away, and the city had to depend on Karori whilst an heroic effort was successfully made to repair the damage in half the estimated time. The breaking of the mains was an accident that could not very well be foreseen, but the needs of the suburbs are, and must be, one of the chief matters for consideration, as these suburbs .are part of the city and are growing rapidly, and will continue to do so for years to some as land in the centre of the city becomes too valuable for residential purposes. The time will come when the whole of To Aro flat will be needed for business qnd manufacturing purposes, and where are the people to go if not into the suburbs? The present Mayor and City Council are quite alive to the exigencies of the situation, and with the able assistance of their capable official the City Engineer (Mr W. H. Morton) have laid both hands on the business of providing the suburbs with the necessary utilities—tramways, water and drainage.

If any persons doubt the earnestness ot ; the Council and the authorities they sheuld \isit one of the highest points ia Fitcbet-t Town, to the west of Brooklyn, where there is in the final stages of completion the substantial surfaoe-re-servoir that is to supply Brooklyn and Vogeltown with water. A visit was paid to the reservoir yesterday by a “Times” reporter in company with the City Engineer, who was good enough to explain tho ramifications of the work from an_ engine ring point of view 7. The Council has secured a large area of ground above Mitchell street for a water-winks area, and there, on

the top of a ridge, 770 ft above the sea - a square hole has been excavated and lined with reinforced concrete for the reception of a very large quantity of water; To make assurance doubly sure —it does not do to pump water and then lose it through leakage—a concrete floor, about six inches thick,* was

laid, then sheets of fabric soaked in bitumen were spread, and over that again another five or six inches of conci'ete is keixxg lail. * The side-walls of coi’crote, reinforced with bars of ii'on, are 3ft w 7 ide at the base, tapering to

18in'at the top. The inner side of the walls is then covered in bitumen fabric, -and against that a brick wall is closely packed. Ivows of stout fetfo-conerete pillars support a ms ssive .roof or cover of ihe same mateiial, wonderfully strengthened with expanded' steel, and this, in turn, is t) t>e covered by If in of earth and sc ds, so that in the warmest weather the water will be kept cool. About half the roof is already on, but furtier progress in that direction is suspended for a'few days, so as to admit light enough for the work inside the reservoir without resorting to artificial aids. Huge T-shaped galvanised-iron ventilators project from the completed

portion of the roof, and in one corner is left an open square, where an electrical recorder/pf the depth of water in the reservoir will be-inserted. This will indicate automatically by means of a float, acting on the instrument, when the pumping, is to cease at Epuni street,, where the pumping-station is about to be erected. The reservoir, which will be supplied with water pumped from the ir.fr ins that tap both the Wainui and Ka rori water, will hold about 450,000 gallons,../which is an outside computation of. three days’ supply for abi.it 2700 people,, and whatever water is needed will .bo pumped by a powerful Mai her and Platt multistage turbine pump (being supplied by Palmer and Co> during, the night hours, when the city demand is lightest. Mr Morton states that the elevation of the reservoir will give a pressure of alcut 1701 b to the mains in the main street of Brooklyn and tho lower parts of the township, a pressure that will, of course, ( dec: ease as the water rises up the eastern slopes of the suburb. At present there are no houses as high as the reservoir, and all those at present building are below the altitude of the waterworks. It is only to the westward, where the rough country slopes upward, to the Karori range, that the labd overtops the reservoir. ThO reservoir, which has a lOin inlet, ant /lOin ; outlets (provisional,, with the OKbeption of the eastern one) on each sjdpi : is within five weeks of .opm-

pletion, and has been constructed under the supervision of the City Engineer by day labour, which accounts for the men having been at work yesterday. Messrs Sanders Bros; are about to commence the erection of the pumping-station at the head of Epuni street, and the pipes are due in Wellington very shortly. Those that will convey the water to the reservoir w r ill be laid along the eastern side .ojF the gully at the top of Epuni street, into Tanera crescent, thence through the brickyard to Mitchell street, and so to the top of the hill. , The power-house Will supply electrical energy for the pumping machinery after. the trams cease running at night. The reticulating of Brooklyn and Vogeltown will mean a lot of work and time, but Island Bay is nearly finished, and Rbseneath is completed, and it is intended to put those gangs on to Brooklyn and Kilbirnie as soon as they are available and the pipes are here. Brooklyn is promised a Water service next sumißcr. • ■ - ..

Kilbirnie should got water before then, via the tunnel, from the city mains. The highlands of Roseneath are to he supplied later on from a surface reservoir after the manner of Brooklyn, and one' for the supply of Kelburne will -later on ornament the ridge of the range to the east of the Karori reservoir. ~ Mr Morton believes it would also be an economic undertaking, in the long run, to provide another such receptacle at the head of Constable street for the future needs of South Kilbirnie and Maramii, instead of running the full pressure through big mains to those places. This brief summary of what is be-, ing done by the Council in regard to water supply should convince everyone of the earnest desire of that body to meet the demands of the time".