WATER SUPPLY

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1578, 25 November 1924, Page 5

WATER SUPPLY

TROUBLE AT THE INTAKE.

REMEDIAL MEASURES SANCTIONED.

'The Borough engineer, Mr W. R. D. McCardie, reported as follows to last evening’s meeting of the Te Awamutu Borough Council: The water supply :in the town failed on Thursday and Friday 'through the choking of the grating at the intake. This will continually recur after every freshet. There is no way to keep an inlet from choking in the course of ■time, but an inlet may be constructed that will take a number of floods without choking. Such an inlet may be built at a cost of about £l5O. The chief drawback about the present arrangement is that it is not known here that the intake is choked till after 'the reservoir is empty. The pressure has then failed and the work of setting things right then begins. We should know when the supply from the intake has failed while the reservoir is still full so that there would be some hours in which to renew the intake supply before any failure at all takes place in town. If arrangements can be made with a neighbouring settler to visit the intake every day and see that it is clear the trouble Will stop. I 'am inquiring into this arrangement and will report later.

The works foreman’s report amplified this statement, he detailing the result of very hurried trips to the intake on Mt' Pirongia, as under:— I beg to report the failure of the water supply on Thursday, ‘the 20th, and Friday, the 21st, at 7.30 p.m. On Thursday morning the pressure gauge stood at 75, which is not unusual for that time of the morning. I had a look at it again about 11 o’clock and there was no alteration; by noon it had dropped to 60, and I thought there must be something wrong, so I got ready and went to the reservoir and intake following the pipe line on the way. On looking into the reservoir I found it with about two feet of water. There was a good flow of water running in but not sufficient to keep up the pressure. I went on to the intake and I found that it was partly blocked with fine shingle, leaves and twigs. I cleared the blockage and let the water run free. During this time it was raining in torrents and continued to do so until we reached Mangapiko. Arriving at Te Awamutu I looked at the guage and it was down to 50. The blockage was released at about 2 p.m., and there was no upward movement of the guage until 7 p.m. It then rose to 60; by 10 p.m. it stood at 75 and the town was beginning to get water. At 5.30 on Friday morning (the pressure was up to 100, and at 8 a.m. it was down to 70, which is not unusual for that time in the morning; but at 9 o’clock the guage was down to 50, so I went to the mountain again to find the reservoir still empty, with about half the supply of water coming from the intake. I went on to the intake and found it again blocked with a collection of the same material found on the previous day, due no doubt to the heavy rain the previous evening. On this occasion the blockage was released at 10.30 a.m., but the pressure did not come on until 10 p.m. the same night. I visited the reservoir and intake on Saturday morning and found that the reservoir had only made up about two feet in 24 hours, and the pipe from the intake was running full bore. I traversed the pipe line from Pirongia to the intake and found everything all right with the exception of one very small leak at, an air valve near the Pirongia end. The draw of water from the town is so great during the day that if the reservoir is empty and the pressure down it takes a full twelve hours before the pressure comes on again, and several days before the reservoir fills up. There is no way of telling when anything is wrong at the reservoir until the town is nearly out ,of water because the gauge is l very often down to 65 and back to 100 inside of two hours, or it might stand at 65 nearly all day and not rise until evening, but when things are wrong it might drop to 50 inside of a quarter of an hour.

The Mayor remarked that apparently the consumption equalled the supply. The engineer: That is what the foreman’s report indicates. ■Cr McGechie: Then what will be the position when the swimming baths are supplied? The engineer: The capacity is 500,000 gallons per day when a normal supply is maintained. We must make provision to avoid congesting the intake.

Cr Bygrave: My earlier statements are being proved. Cr Peate said the £l5O was absolutely necessary. If a fire had occurred when the intake was blocked a very serious conflagration would have resulted. The waiter supply must be always kept in good order. Cr McGechie concurred, and said he had been absolutely alarmed at the prospect as revealed by the foreman’s report. He urged that the expenditure be authorised without delay.

To the Mayor, the engineer said that by the expenditure of £l5O there would be very little danger of a blockage. He proposed to construct a series of screens where only one now exists. That would reduce the likelihood of blockage to a minimum, especially if arrangements are made for a regular weekly inspection by a reliable man. Cr Peate asked if this expenditure would be wasted if it were found later that the creek’s flow is inadequate for the town’s requirements. The engineer replied that that was extremely improbable, but the pipe from the intake to the main reservoir was not quite so large as the pipe from the reservoir to the -town. -However, if kept clear at the intake there was no likelihood of danger. Cr McGechie asked if the £l5O included renewing trestles supporting the pipe line. The engineer: No.

Cr Bygrave: Then you had better expect a good deal of extra expenditure, for there is real need for overhauling the trestles, and that quickly, too.

Cr McGechie said that 'the Council had agreed months ago that attention >t-o the water supply was to be one of the first duties of the new’ engineer

oil taking up Iris appointment. The Mayor: That is so. The report and recommendation were adopted. At a later stage in the meeting the Mayor remarked that some ot the householders did not know where to telephone to in the event of the water supply failing. He suggested that they should be informed that the Borough engineer should be communicated with after ordinary office hours.