WATER RATIONING NOW THREATENS LOCAL CONSUMERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 88, 20 January 1950, Page 5

WATER RATIONING NOW THREATENS LOCAL CONSUMERS

Unless there is an immediate / lowering of the water consumption at Whakatane more drastic rationing steps will have to be taken declared the Town Clerk, Mr L. D. Lovelock, yesterday. The position at the present time is that there is little water in storage for domestic purposes and barely enough for fire fighting. With other centres of the Bay of Plenty Whakatane has felt the effect of the warm dry spell of the past few weeks. As a result, there has been an increased draw on the local water supply to such an extent that the pumps are kept working at top pressure all day to cope with the demand. Consumtpion Greater

The reservoir has a capacity of 180,000 gallons and of necessity 100,000 gallons of water are kept in storage for fire fighting purposes only. The daily consumption is from 250,000 to 300,000 gallons, and the pumps have to pump this amount every day to keep the fire fighting water in storage. There is no extra for domestic consumption. At the present time it is a losing battle, with the consumption greater than the supply. To complicate the position further, water to the borough is pumped by electrically driven pumps and any interruption during pumping hours by power cut-offs greatly interrupts the supply. If this happens it may be necessary to prohibit hosing gether./ The present restrictions imposed by the Borough Council towards the end of last year prohibit hosing except between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.- and 8 p.m. daily, when hose,s must be hand held. The supply has now reached the stage that unless these restrictions are observed the Council will take action to enforce them. Where they are not observed the water service will be disconnected and ofTendera prosecuted.

Turn Off Taps Mr Lovelock emphasised the necessity for conserving water. He pointed out that when there was a fire all hoses and taps would have to be turned off to allow the maximum amount available for fire .fighting. 1 ■ : j "There is sufficient water for restricted purposes only,” he / added. "There is no reserve of stored water, and householders are asked to conserve in every way possible in order that there will be sufficient water for domestic and fire fighting purv poses.”