POWER FROM WAITAKI

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18511, 7 March 1930, Page 8

POWER FROM WAITAKI

SHOULD BE TURNED ON IN MARCH 1932. WORK PROGRESSING TO SCHEDULE.

(Special to the •‘Herald.”) j CHRISTCHURCH, March 6. ] A visitor to Christchurch is Mr j Packwood, engineer in charge ol the | Waitaki power scheme. Mr Packwood is on holiday, but he consented to J | reply to a few questions regarding the | progress of the scheme. The engineer was emphatic in stating | i that the work is proceeding according to plan, and that, unless some serious obstacle or difficulty was encountered, the power plant should be in operation j Iby March 31st, 1932. Mr Packwood | | said that there are 600 mep on the job ‘ j at present, and the peak of production ( | and personnel should be reached some j 1 time about May next. There will then I be about 750 men. At present three • shifts are being worked, so that con- J struction is proceeding continuously night and day except on Sundays. The plant and personnel represent probably the greatest concentration of modern plant and labour that has ever been j gathered together in New Zealand. | So far everything is proceeding i acording to the construction plan de- j vised months ago. No obstacle or un- , | expected dlifficulty has been encount- 1 s ered to cause the engineers to modify I their programme. If the river follows j its normal programme, and has floods j during the summer, with a low 7 flow during winter, there should be no reason why the construction should not ' proceed acocrding to plans. If abJ normal or unseasonable floods occur j during the winter there might be S some delay. Originally the programme j called for construction of three coffer j dams, and of necessity each had to be constructed during summe; time, so that the concreting could proceed during the following winter. Of these coffer dams, the first (the central) one in the centre of the river had been duly completed acording to programme, L and concreted to the predetermined ’ height. Immediately on the completion ’ of the first coffer dam, construction of J the second one, which runs from the first coffer dam across the river to the L Canterbury bank, was undertaken, and despite long-sustained and heavy \ floods, the work is progressing as de--5 signed, and the excavation of the : riverbed below the dam is now pro--1 ceeding. Within three or four weeks 7 it is expected to commence pumping. “ so that concreting may begin about : May next, and the level of the concrete 1 completed to river water level. In this 1 second coffer-dam, sluices will be provided of a capacity sufficient to take care of the winter flow of the river. In the following winter (in 1931), the third coffer dam will be constructed, £he river being diverted through the sluices of No. 2 dam. It will be seen, then, that this programme provides for all work in the river being completed by the spring of 1931. It is estimated that from six months to nine months will be required in which to complete the work above the water level, and also the installs ation of machinery in the power house - and other work which is now proceedi ing simultaneously with river work. If e the engineers experience no greater e j difficulties than have already been sur- - ; mounted, the end of March 1932 should I see the Waitaki power station in operX ation.