CITY WATER SUPPLY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18048, 23 September 1920, Page 2

CITY WATER SUPPLY.

TO THE KDi'l'Uli, I Sik,—The report in to-day's Times on the above subject shows our city fathers to bo ! in variable moods, as it strikes tlie individual. : There are a few points in it worthy of public ; attention. First, then, wliich, of tho two j engineers is correct as to the date of cleaning j the Southern Reservoir? Truth is at etake ' here, and the facts ought to bo easily verified. Again, low does the engineer concerned reconcile the following statements i made by liim: "It was absolutely nocessaiy that water from any. outside source should be purified. He though! they would have to go in for some sort of purification of the water from Lee Stream. He did not see any ' reason for spending a largo sum of money to make the Southern Reservoir capable of storing 70,000,000 gallons." In the face of the above statements one may reasonably ask how the Lee Stream or underground supplies are to be purified unless by storage or filtration, or chemical ponds, or otherwise, and which is the cheapest and least costly in upkeep? My solution of this problem is to enlarge the Southern Reservoir so as to hold about 100,000,000 gallons. This stora-ge would purify the Lee Stream water, or any other water, in as cheap, effectual, and permanent a manner as any the OQuncil can devise. If, however, the Government declines to permit enlargement, then this scheme fails, and so does tho proposal to look for machinery wherewith to excavate it. We doubtless have an a'bundant supply of subterranean water, but who oan speak with authority as to their permanency or purity? They -will come under the ban of "outside waters," and hence according to the engineer's dictum would require to be purified, and how? Next comes the question of what sort of control are we to exercise over the Lee Stream gathering grounds, and at what cost? For the engineers recommend control. It is reasonable to suppose this would be a very complex question, and probably would Tequire to be settled, as elsewhere, 'by Act of Parliament. This incident shows us how little consideration tho city councillors gave to the details of the Lee Stream scheme. Indeed, this and otheT things shows us that tho whole water supply question is in a muddle, and that councillors do not thoroughly comprehend the matter. One councillor had a running shot at "amateur engineers" and "press scribblers" venturing into the question. Well, that councillor exposes himself to the retort of councillor infallibility, autocracy, and tho idea of the public being dumb dogs iu questions which intimately concern them. He ought to have said, "Lord gio us a guid conceit o' oorsels."—l am, etc., Gohdon Macdokald.