STATISTICS OF BIG

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19941, 27 October 1934, Page 6

STATISTICS OF BIG

UNDERTAKING SOME INTERESTING FIGURES Cost in Money and Lives The Dam Length, 1800 feet; length of spillway 1200 feet. Height.—Maximum, dam proper, 120 feet; cut-off wall to crest 143 feet; cuto wall to lake flood level 155 feet. Thickness.—At base, over all, 144.42 feet. At top, 10 feet. Concrete.—ln dam, 225,000 cubic yards; in powerhouse and intake structure 50,000 cubic yards; total, 275,000 cubic yards, equalling 500,000 tons. Mixture in dam proper, three parts of cement, three of sand and six of shingle. Pressure.—Maximum water pressure per lineal foot, 220 tons. Curvature.—Compound arcs of 750 feet and 2000 feet radius. Temporary Sluices. —Eleven, each 13 feet deep by 10 feet wide. Permanent Sluices.—Two, 12 feet by 10 feet, capacity 12,000 cubic feet per second, maximum head. Powerhouse Building and intake structure 350 feet by 150 feet. Height, 130 feet. Penstocks.—Number 15. Dimensions, each 20 feet deep by 11 feet 8 inches wide, giving 700 square feet per turbine. Turbines.—Five (at present only two); 23,000 b.h.p. at 125 r.p.m. Runners, diameter 13 feet 7i inches, weight 215 tons. Water consumption 2929 cusecs each, full load. Generators.—Capacity 16.666 k.v.a., 11,000 volts. Efficiency, 96.4 per cent. Diameter, rotor 24 feet, overall 30 feet. Weights, rotor 116 tons, stator 86 tonsf Michel thrust bearing carrying 240 tons. Transmission Line Distance to Glenavy, 38 miles; number of towers 188; average span 16 chains; maximum span 21 chains; two circuits; conductors 37-102 steel cored aluminium; towers 45 feet. 55 feet, 65 feet high. Cost per tower (average, £270. The Lake Length, 5i miles, width at widest part li miles. Area.—At contour of spillway level 1,744 acres; at flood level 2,200 acres. Capacity.—At spillway level 1.406 million cubic feet; at flood level 2000 million cubic feet. Time to fill.—Two days at 8000 cusecs. Flow of river.—Maximum 160,000 cusecs, minimum 3,000 cusecs. Spillway discharge, 100,000 cusecs. Employment The number of employees reached a peak of 1250, but fell to 500, rising again to 900 in 1933. List of Fatal Accidents Not many major engineering schemes have been carried out with au absence of fatal accidents. When it is remembered that the Waitaki Hydro Works have been in progress for six years and that much of the work has been done in places where a false step meant a plunge into the freezing cold water of a wide, swift, and deep river, it is not surprising that some of the workmen lost their lives. In fact, it is remarkable that there were only three drowning fatalities. Altogether there were seven fatal accidents and one death from heart failure. Minor injuries, of course, were numerous, but not more numerous than might have been expected. The fatalities were as follows: March 8. 1929.—G. Hoffman, drowned in river.

February 2, 1931. —G. Baxter, heart failure.

July 18, 1931.—J. Russell, fractured skull in fall against a truck. May 20, 1932. —E. J. Solomon, struck by runaway truck. April 24, 1933.—W. Falls, drowned in river.

August 3, 1933.—G. Todd and J. Muir, killed by fall of rock excavation. April 23, 1934.—J. H. Woodgate, struck by runaway truck. August 31, 1934.—G. R. McLeod drowned in river.