UNDERGROUND WATER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19070, 18 July 1936, Page 6

UNDERGROUND WATER

| TOWN SUPPLY PROSPECT | BORING COSTS REVIEWED | MUCH INTEREST .AROUSED I Considerable interest lias been aroused i m Grisborne regarding the possibility of I securing underground water as a town ' supply, ami farmeva who have had ex.- | pertence with boring have joined in the : discussion. Discussion has centred round the estimate of boring cost given by the borough engineer, Mr., E. R. Thomas, at the last meeting of the Borough Council, when it was decided, on the score of expense, to shelve All'. .1. 0. Field's boring proposal in favour of a less costly form of investigation in the gravel" beds at Waipaoa. Air. 'Thomas estimated the cost of boring at- £1 a foot, and in arriving at this figure he had before him a number of estimates secured from local and outside firms, after allowing for the possibility of striking hard strata. Speaking with a reporter to-day, Mr. Thomas stated that the estimates he had .received varied considerably, ono'being as low as 7s 6d a foot for a 6in. bore, but in all cases the council was required to find casings and gear on the site, and when these were taken into account the total cost would not be far off £1 a foot. Some people who have discussed the matter believed that Mr. Thomas' estimate is too high, and point oiit that a> (J is borne contractor has- put down bores of about 2in. at a cost, of 6s a foot. This was mentioned to Mr. Thomas, who said that in a light soil this could be done for such a small bore, but to test the matter properly the. council would need to be satisfied that, it could secure an adequate' supply from a 6in. bore, and testing with smaller bores would not give the required information regarding the quantities available, while I lie council would have to be prepared to pay additional cost if a hard strata were encountered, unless a contractor was prepared to take, the risk. He pointed out- that if a 6in. bore yielded up to expectations, it might prove sufficient for the present requirements of t,lie town. In Palnierston North, a well of the same size was producing >tO.OCO gallons, an hour, or LOC\J,(XX) gallons a day. Such a flow would be all that would be required to augment the f.lisborne supply at present. A number oi Gisborne people spoken to expressed impatience at the delay necessary under the council's latest, decision, if the investigations at Waipaoa fail. Each dry summer of recent years, they point out. has placed Gisborne in a difficult position, and at a comparatively small cost, compared with the money already spent in the water supply scheme, underground sources could be thoroughly tested. Experience of individual farmers is interesting. There are many bores on the flats of less than gCOft; in depth yielding large supplies of pure water. There have been some failures, particularly where a diviner's services wei'e not secured beforehand, but in properly selected spots an abundance of ' pure water lias been secured.