WELLINGTON’S WATER SUPPLY

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4296, 4 March 1901, Page 5

WELLINGTON’S WATER SUPPLY

COUNCILLORS AT WAINtJI-O-. MATA. The Mayor and Councillors, and the Town Clerk and City Engineer paid (heir annual visit to the Wainui-o-mata reservoir on Saturday, and spent a most enjoyable day, tho weather being all that" could he desired. A nice luncheon. was provided for the party, which included the wives of the Councillors and municipal officers, by Mr and Mrs Quaintance, the caretakers of tire reservoir.

The Mayor and Councillors made a close inspection of the waterworks, and also of the site of the proposed new dam. Tho result was to confirm the reports which have reached the Council from time to time of the waste of water which is taking place in connection with the present system. There is considerable soakage through the foundation of the dam, which is apparently' of gravelly formation, and in the dam itself there are several small cracks

through which largo quantities of water percolate. Then, again, the open race some distance below the main reservoir is in a very leaky condition. It is proposed to replace it immediately with pipes.

The dam, when originally built, was, it transpires, not made of solid concrete, but merely of a formation of soil set in that material. This system was no doubt adopted for economical motives, hut it is felt that if some day tho wall, which, as has been said, is cracking, should suddenly' give way to a heavy flood pressure, the result would be disastrous to the inhabitants of the city. However, there, seems to be no immediate reason for predicting such a catastrophe. It must be remembered that the reservoir was made and the dam built at a time when Wellington was a very much smaller place than it is to-day, and it was then thought that the supply provided would be sufficient for many years to come. It becomes daily more evident, however, that neither the present isupijply, nor tho present system, yvill answer the needs of Wellington for many years longer, and with more prescience than it is usually credited with, the Council and its officers are making inquiries and experiments, and preparing estimates yvith a view of discovering 'whether a water supply system on an extended scale may not be procured at Wainui-o-mata. The City Engineer says that by putting a concrete dam 640 feet wide, 30 feet through, and from 40 to 46 feet high, across the gully, about a quarter of a mile from the present reservoir, an additional storage of ninety millions of gallons may be obtained. This, with a larger main supply pipe than exists in connection with the present reservoir, will, ho thinks, adequately provide fertile requirements of the inhabitants of Wellington for a lengthened period. The water from the Wainui-o-mata and its tributary—the George—though deficient in lime, is fast-running and absolutely pure, coming from two catchment basins, which are covered with native bush down to the water’s edge. The City Corporation owns 4000 acres of the land in the vicinity, and it is frequented by no stock, save wild pigs and a few derelict dray horses. The land is of poor quality, and not of a kind to attract settlement I to the neighbourhood, _ which is

likely to remain in a primitive, state and with its virgin beauty little marred for many years to come.