BIG RELIEF SCHEME

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1932, Page 8

BIG RELIEF SCHEME

b LAKE WAIRARAPA DRAINAGE, r — DIVERTING A RIVER. Masterton, Nov. 20. 1 Arrangements between the South Wai- ' rarapa River Board, the Unemployment Board and the Public Works Department, • in connection with a flood protection scheme entailing the diversion of the Turanganui River, have been completed and a start will be made with the work next week. A relief camp has been established at Turanganui and men at present employed on road improvement at Akatarawa will be transferred to the new work. The first batch of men will arrive on Tuesday. Fifty men will be accommodated at the camp, and it is anticipated that the work being undertaken will take twelve months to complete. The work is to be carried out by the Public Works Department on behalf of the River Board and the Unemployment Board. The total cost will be about £4OOO, of which sum the Unemployment Board is finding twothirds and the. River Board the remainder. The River/Board has been authorised to strike a rate of |d in £1 this year in order to pay off the first instalment oi: the cost of the scheme, but future payments will be made by means of a rate struck on the basis of the benefit accrued to various areas by the scheme. Classification of the boards area for purposes of rating on this basis is now proceeding. EXCAVATION 40,000 CUBIC YARDS. Preliminary work in connection with the scheme has been completed and immediately the men come into camp they will be able to make a start on their big task of excavating 40,000 cubic yards of spoil. Now that work on the Akatarawa Road has practically been completed the majority of the 70 odd men in camp there will have to be accommodated elsewhere, and the bulk of these men will find work offering them at Turanganui. Any surplus will find accommodation at two other Wairarapa camps—White Rock and Ngakonui. Both these camps are in the Martinborough district.

The diversion of the Turanganui River is the first move in a comprehensive scheme which has as its object the draining of large areas of Lake Wairarapa. Although only the first step in the scheme, it is anticipated that the diversion of the Turanganui will have an immediate effect in relieving farm lands from flooding, by accelerating the flow of water between the Upper Lake (generally spoken of as Lake Wairarapa) and the Lower Lake (Lake Onoke). At present the Turanganui flows into what are known as the “Narrows”—a channel joining the Upper Lake to the Lower. This narrow channel is badly silted up, and in flood periods is unable to cope with the combined flow of water from the Turanganui and from the Upper Lake. The scheme on which a commencement is to be made next week, is to divert the Turanganui so that it will flow directly into the Lower Lake, thus relieving the postion in the “Narrows.”

CUT THREE-QUARTER MILE LONG. Actually it will only be necessary to make a cut three-quarters of a mile long in the left bank of the Turanganui and erect a groyne in the Turanganui a short distance below the commencement of this cut, in order to direct the waters down it The natural fall of the country will do the rest. The land about the lake at this part is very low-lying and the water pouring through the cut will soon scour out a channel and complete the diversion to the lake. The cut to be made will be about five chains wide, and the actual channel excavated about 100 feet wide. The average depth will be about two feet. About 40,000 cubic yards of spoil will be removed, and this will be utilised in constructing a stopbank on either side of the channel. The next move in the scheme—to be carried out some time in the future—will be the diversion of the Ruamahunga River. At present the : position is further complicated by the fact that the Ruamahunga enters the Upper Lake with a wide sweep and its waters are directed up the lake instead of down it, with the result the lake waters bank up at times of flood. It is proposed, then, to divert the Ruamahunga so that it will flow down into the “Narrows.” With interference from the Turanganui waters removed, the waters of the Ruamahunga River will, it is considered, act as a scour. The result of this water finding its way uninterruptedly to the sea will, it is anticipated, be the replacement of the wide stretch of Lake Wairarapa by a clearly defined watercourse. Thousands of acres of farm land on the shores of the lake will then be rendered more or less immune from flooding, and in addition large areas of what is at present lake bed will be available for farming.

BETTERMENT TO FARM LANDS. The area of land about Lake Wairarapa at present liable to flooding totals 43,700 acres, and, according to Mr. A. J. Baker, who, as inspecting engineer to the Public Works Department, examined the comprehensive scheme in 1928, almost the whole of this area will receive some direct benefit when the works are completed. He considered that the greatest benefit will follow the lowering of the normal river level in the Ruamahunga, and the corresponding lowering in the level of Lake Wairarapa. He expressed the opinion in making his report that £250,000 was a fair figure to place on the betterment that would accrue to lands when the works were complete. In the belief that the full scheme will eventually be put in hand and will result in the benefits anticipated, farmers have purchased large areas of what is at present lake bed, one farmer holding as much as 500 acres.