WATER SUPPLY POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 230, 28 September 1928, Page 6

WATER SUPPLY POLICY.

The Sydney expert engaged by the Council to supplement the work of the Water Commission recommends that the Lower Nihotupu development should be taken in hand tirst, and that the tapping of the Hunua ranges be deferred for some years. Mr. Dare estimates the cost of the Lower Nihotupu scheme at £350,000, and thinks that the full development of Hunua would involve three millions. It should be borne in mind that Mr. Dare's investigation differed from that of the Commission in that he was not a tribunal before which critics of the Council, as well as the Council itself, could appear. It may be assumed that most, if not all, of the data used by him was supplied by the Council. Nevertheless his •commendation of the Council's policy is something on which the Council may legitimately congratulate itself. The dryness of last summer found out the weakness in the system, but since then storage capacity has been increased, and it must be assumed that Mr. Dare, before coming to the conclusion that the Waitakeres supply will suffice for some years to come, took into account the possibility of there being other such seasons. His report makes it possible to conduct a more detailed investigation of the Hunua area, and it may be that in the end the Council will decide to go further afield. Wherever it goes, the expense will be very great, and we do not anticipate that when the time comes, the city area alone will shoulder the whole of the financial responsibility.