The Coolgardie Water Supply.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12021, 21 March 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Coolgardie Water Supply.

Trie " V.'es: Australian " of January 22nd I contains a ueM.-ripr'u-n oi the vast enterprise I ttnltrt-jken bv Western Australia tu'itirr.:>h Ci:.':!g.i:-ii!e a::d adj.u-ant g.ddtieh!.-- ■■ Mi wate:. the surcessiul completion of v. inch was to be celebrated ..-:. that date at Ka!gi:cr!ie. the inlan.l exueniity of the v..;r!:s. Tiie scheme was formulated and worked out by the Knghreer-in.Chief of the coh.nv. the late C. Y. O'C'.nn-ir. Sitae his death* Mr W. .1. Rcyi:n:..soii Ins been engineer in charge of the scheme, with a start of engineer assistant-, of whom Mr J. I'arr. :•- "" 'i'imaru boy." is one. The water service commences at the Helena river, at a dam 100 ft high, which ponds back the water into a lake eight miles long, and from this- huge reservoir the water is forced by steam pumps or by trravity through 358 miles of steel pipe 30 inc.he- in diameter, to Coolgardie and Kalgootlie. passing through a dozen concicte reservoirs of various capacities (one of them ten million gallors) on the way. The water at the start is lifted 425 ft in'a distance of limiles. and then by another lift of the .-•une .imnur.t. to a distance 21-.' ( miles firrth-jr. The reservoir here is en the Mimmit of a rid.ee. and for the next 53). miles the water flows down hill. The water f.s then forced bv pumps 62? miles, o2j miles, and succeeding' stages are 46. 331. 43. 12. 21!,. and 24 miles, most of them, we yathc-r. inimpinc: stnrres. The engines and jmmps are of the V.'orthington mike, and so arranged that if necessai-v those at any station "can take the dutv of

the nest succeeding station also, raising the water against mo double head. i"he i b.->:lcia arc of the Babcoek-Wilson watcr- : tube type. The pipes waie made in the colony, iroia steel plates imported from Ge-maisy and America, about 90,C00 tons of steel being used. The pipes ware made ninth cheaper or. the spot than they could be imported, and some hundreds of thousands cheaper through a colonial engineer, Mi Mephau Ferguson, inventing a new method _ oi making pipes from steel plates. By tnis system, we understand, the pipe i:< made o: two half cylinders, the edges of which ;'.:e dovetailed by hydraulic pres-.-t'.ie into appropriate grooves made in a. :,a:row bar, whence the pipe is called the " locking-bar pipe." Mr Ferguson has pae::ted his invention all over the world, ar.-.l it appear- to be a very valuable one. ' Mr- C. Y. O'Connor said it was the best p::>e he ha.- 1 , ever seen. Mr Ferguson I lr.-.'.e the pines in 28l't lengths, ami thev J we-.e jointc-.i by a -.leeva and crulked iry | au e ! ee':i'- a pp'hr.ee. For the most part I the pipi Jt laid in a trench a'ongside the r:;'i!v.':-y li;:e, and <!'ossc- hollows arid water-

: l:e pipe : lone- colds 5t million gal'or.s. aid the rcs-rvoirs on the way 34£ million.*, and pipe and reservoirs rrr.ist he. full to .-'Slow the water to pass. The demand was calculate-.! at live million gallons a day. and this quantity will pass through the pipes at the rate of a mile in <3O minutes 'lO see: nds. >o that it take« a, little over 10 i',:;y ; : to -.each Kalguoriie from the Helena vcseivoir.

T|;e co-t r,f the work has been about£:2. .50,000 exclusive of reticulations for Coolgardie. Kalgoorlie and" Boulder City, and about £ICO.CGO more for these. The pipe cor-t over a million, pumps and etijrire- ;:e~.v!y a quarter of a million. The ariuial cosr is estimate 1 ar; follows:—lnterest at £3 7s per cent, and sinking fund for 20 vears at 3 per cent. £194.-155, m-iiu-tc nance :MS.CGO. pumping charges £IC9.CGO. administration £16.000: total, £36'4. Assuming that live million gallons a '.• :y are consumed, the average cost of rlelivery will be Is per ICOO or £2OO per mil!; .ii gallons. t-'oe::;g that there is so much talk of utilising the water power of New Zealand rivers, a few facts concerning the Helena veserv.-ir may be interesting. The dam is 725:t long. 100 ft deep to the bed of the river, and the foundations arc sunk to a farther depth of 9Sft in some places. The thickness is 85ft at the bisc. and it gradually diminishes to 6ft at the top. A substantia girder bridge is built over the top of the d?,m. with eight 50ft water ways to allow floods to pass. The dam contains 69.0C0 cubic yarns of concrete, and cost £23S.CCC. a lavuc portion of which war incurred through difficulties in mp-king cood the foundations, a deep fissure- being found in the rock.