NEW HUIA DAM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 15

NEW HUIA DAM

OFFICIALLY HANDED OVER TO CITY FINE WATER SUPPLY Today the newly-constructed Huia Dam was officially handed over to its department of the Auckland City Council. About 60 people who were present lunched in the bush near the dam before the ceremony took place. There were present the Mayor. Mr. George Baildou, members and officers of the Auckland City Council, chairmen and members of the various local bodies and members of the Harbour Bridge Commission. Mr. J. Dempsey, chairman of the Works Committee, handed the dam over to Mr. A. J. Eutricau, chairman of the Water Committee. He referred to the fact that in future each department will do its own work. In a lengthy speech the Mayor traced the history of Auckland’s water supply. With the completion of all the works necessary to give the City an adequate supply of water, Mr. Baildon said that eventually the City would have a daily supply'of 2SJ million gallons, or sufficient to give each of 400,000 inhabitants 60 gallons a day. The expenditure on the Huia dam scheme was as follows: Purchase of land, £16.593 11s Sd; dam and reservoir, £232,010 5s 3d; total, £245,603 16s lid. Pipe line, aqueduct, etc., from Mackie’s Rest to Khyber Pass, £178,872 17s lid; Huia pipe line, tunnels, etc., £103,716 6s lOd; total, £282,588 4s 9d; raising of loans. £24,584 10s; making a grand total of £555,876 11s Sd. The statistics concerning the dam, which have been engraved on the plate fixed on this structure, are: Catchment area 2,040 acres Water area ........ 54 Storage capacity .. 536,000,000 gallons Length of dam at top . . 427 feet Width at bottom .. . - - - SO Width at top 12 M Height of dam above main foundation .. 120 ~ Height of dam above cut-off wall 137 „ Length of overflow weir 150 ~ Elevation of weir above sea level 540 Concrete in structure .. 27,937 cub. yds. Excavation 20,500 cub. yds. The capacities of the various dams now in use are: Gallons. Waitakere dam 444,000,000 Xihotupu dam 520,000,000 Auxiliary dam 70,000,000 Huia dam 536,000,000 Total 1,570,000,000