THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1903. THE CITY WATER SUPPLY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12639, 17 April 1903, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1903. THE CITY WATER SUPPLY.

The report from its engineer which was read at the meeting of the City Council on Wednesday night last with reference to the state of the Ross Creek reservoir may nob have been intended to excite alarm in the minds of citizens; but, taken as it stands, without' any qualification and without any' explanation, it is certainly calculated to have that effect. It is, the engineer says, a fact well known to the members of the Water Committee that "the condition, of Ross Creek reservoir is most serious, the recent extensive subsidence of. the dam rendering it-absolutely essential to permanently reduce the water level; consequently, it only requires about three weeks' dry weather to altogether cut off the present intermittent water supply to'the higher zone of the city." And upon this statement of fact the engineer practically bases an. allegation that the Water Committee, in delaying to accept certain tenders that were lodged last month for works in connection with the introduction of a supplementary supply from the Waitati, is inviting a disaster to the community. It is an unusual circumstance to find language so strong as this employed in ' a communication addressed to a local body by ope of its offioials concerning the actions of one of its departmental committees; but if it were actually tlie case that the Water Committee was respbnsible for the occurrence of an avoidable and indefensible delay in remedying a grave defect that had suddenly manifested itself in the condition of the water supply , of the city it would not be held that, the city engineer had overstepped the mark in couching his report in the vigorous terms it contains. The tenor of the Council's discussion on the subject did not, however, indicate that the councillors themselves are at all apprehensive of danger. Nor do we think there is any real occasion for public alarm. That there -has been a subsidence of the Ross Creek dam. is, as the engineer asserts, well ~known to the Water Committee and the Council. It is, however, no now thing. It lias been going on for years. It may, perhaps, have been more extensive recently than in the past, but, if bo, the permanent reduction of the water level, to which the engineer refers, would prevent even a break-away, if such an extreme contingency should happen, from involving the city in disaster. But while on the one hand the engineer suggests the danger of the collapse.of the dam, on the other ho suggests the possibility of the residents on the'higher levels being deprived of their water supply through the want of sufficient pressure in the mains to force the water up the hills. The Ros .Creek; supply; has, however.

been cut off in the past without ,the production of any very dire results, and if it were absolutely cut off again the Council would not improbably be able to make temporary arrangement?, by the introduction of' the Water of Leith, for supplying the high levels, while the lower levela would be amply provided for by the Silverstream supply, which is, we are assured, at the present time an overflowing one. We do not suggest that there is not a pressing necessity for the introduction of a supplementary supply, for it is quite evident that such a necessity exists, but any, attempt to create a scare either upon the ground that the Ross Creek reservoir is dangerously unstable or uponi the ground that there is a risk of residents on the upper levels of the city being entirely deprived of their water supply is certainly to be deprecated.

Hie delays that have occurred in connection with the introduction of a supply of water from the Upper Waita.ti have been most unfortunate. It is nearly three years since a survey was authorised and instmctions were given for the preparation of plans with the view to augmenting the city supply from this source; but it was only a few weeks ago that the Order-in-Ccuncil was issued which the Council required before it could proceed with the work. The causes that operated to produce this remarkable delay have not been made public by the Council, and it would be decidedly of interest to the citizens to be informed whether they were in any way attributable to neglect or remissness' on the part of Corporation officials. But even now it does not appear that the Council is prepared to commence the work. By some of the members it was urged at Wednesday night's meeting that, as an instalment of the whole scheme, the supply from Morrison's' Creek should bo immediately, introduced. There was, indeed, ai consensus of opinion that it would be a desirable thing to have the Morrison's Creek supply introduced as speedily as possible. But the Mayor and a few of the councillors reasonably demurred to embarking upon any portion of the scheme before the Council sees its way clear to the completion of the project. They objected, as the Mayor put it, to " going blind"; and that is really what ai decision to proceed at once with the Morrison's Creek instalment of the scheme would have amounted to. No estimate of the cost of the scheme has yet been presented to the Council by the engineer, nor does it seem yet to have received from him any scheme, in the broad sense of the word, for the construction, of the proposed extension. The Council has, in fact, no guarantee from the responsible head of its engineering department that the scheme upon which it proposes to embark is practicable. Under the circumstances, the disinclination of Councillor Christie to support the commencement of the project until he has received an assurance that the foundations of the proposed reservoir are stable enough to bear the weight of the structure may readily be appreciated, and the action of the Mayor in recording both his deliberative and his casting vote in favour of delay, rather than risk an expenditure that might conceivably prove to be wholly unprofitable will commend itself to the bulk of the ratepayers as being dictated by prudence. As a matter of.fact, had Councillor Tapper's proposal that- the Morrison Creek supply, should be introduced at once been: carried it. would not have expedited the work at all. For one thing, in the absence of any estimate of cost, the Council has not yet| taken 6teps to raise the waterworks loan which haa been authorised; and it appeal's that the pipes that have been ordered for the construction of the extension arc coming from England in a sailing vessel that .is not expected to arrive until next month. That being so, it is rather surprising, apart from all other considerations, that half of tha members of the Council should ha,ve been found ranging themselves in, opposition to the recommendation of the Welter Committee that, as a, necessary preliminary, complete plans of the scheme, together with an estimate of the cost, should be furnished to thp Council by the engineer. The discussion revealed the circumstance that, when the matter again comes before the Council, a fresh issue will have to be dealt with in the shape of a .proposal that the work should be'placed in the hands of an independent engineer. Councillor Carroll, who is chairman of the Water Committee, indicated that it was his opinion that tha Council should appoint an engineer "who was a thoroughly practical jnan" to carry out the schemo; and Councillor Christie, also a member of the Water Committee, said he would oppose the Corpora' i engineer being entrusted with th. work. As the city engineer lias '.ready been relieved of the duty cl' carrying out the Lee Stream works :md as the existence of tho Drainage Board ■ has thrown upon other shoulders a great deal of work that was formerly performed by the Council's engineering staff, this proposal to appoint an independent engineer to supervise' the introduction of the fresh water supply can only be regarded as highly suggestive. Councillor Gore, who expressed surprise at the suggestion that the city engineer should be relieved of this duty, bluntly said that if Mr Rogers was not capable of performing tho Council's work it should get rid of him. Whatever may be tho truth in this connection, it appears to us to be quite obvious that the Council should straightforwardly face the position, and either express its confidence in Mr Rogers or the reverse.