FIRST PIPE LAID

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1935, Page 8

FIRST PIPE LAID

STRATFORD WATER MAINS. WORKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. Early reports of the difficulties to be met with in the laying down of portions of Stratford’s new water main system were not exaggerated as the experiences of th*: contractor, Mr. T. Lamason, prove. For a week Mr. Lamason has been engaged on one particular section, and the first pipe in it was laid last night. The scene of present operations is by the Patea River, right at the top of -Regan Street, where the 12-inch main has to cross under the river-bed. There are high banks right up to the water’s edge on both sides, and the pipe-line is to make a large U-shaped dip, dropping about two feet below the bed of the stream. To lay the pipe one half of the stream had to be sandbagged off, and after the bags had been packed to form a watertight rectangle jutting out into the running water, excavation began in the enclosed space. This was a mass of heavy rock, and blasting was continually resorted to.

Difficulty was experienced in keeping the cavity dry, as the stony ground allowed a fairly free leakage of water. Steady labour on a large hand pump was required all the time the pipe and the concrete were being laid to keep the level down.

Nine men are being employed so far by the contractor, although as soon as sufficient pipes arrive more men will be taken on, and of these five are working with him at the river. Mr. E. McWhirter, the borough overseer, is also with him. Speed was the order yesterday, as, once the pipe was in place and the concrete packing commenced, the whole had to be completed in one day. The rough nature of the riverbed, piled high with great boulders in every direction, made the site not the best for working and hindered the passage of men with heav-ily-laden buckets and wheelbarrows, but the work proceeded apace once the excavation was finished. A packing of concrete was placed all round the 30 feet of pipe before work ceased last night. Difficulties possibly greater than those already surmounted may be met in laying the pipes across the remainder of the section, as the present excavation has to be filled in, the surplus spoil cleared away, the river diverted to the other side, and the whole business begun again from the opposite bank. Once this portion is complete, however, it is expected that little trouble will be experienced in completing the contract as this is by far the most difficult piece of work. For that reason it was tackled first.