ONSLOW/WATER SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2411, 17 March 1915, Page 7

ONSLOW/WATER SUPPLY.

Sir, —I should like to reply to the correspondence on this subject.. Who are "Ratepayer," "Pro Bono Publico," and "No Sutor Ultra Crepidam ? . Whf do they not come out in their true colours? ' Because they are frightened. Any fool cau pull to pieces, Dut it-takes an intelligent - man to construct. "Ratepayer" was 1 at the meeting held at Khandallah. He. heard me state that the average rainfall for ten years (and the lowest , ten years out' of sixty) was a fraction under 46 inches per year. I also stated the size of" the catchment area, and from that I told him how. much water could be impounded. All authorities aereo on this point: If you can get ; the exact rainfall ; for l a period.of twenty or thirty years, over a .catohment'.area, 'Vyou can with safety calculate what quantity pi water: there is. to depend .on for. us©.-.' The engineering details required about, t«>3 part of the business are: One ia:h of rainfall over an acre of land produces ( i 22,687 gallons of water. Our catchment area is 144 acres; and 45 inches . of rainfall in a year on an aero would , amount to - 22,687... multiplied by 45. Therefore, t-be rainfall of 45 inches on 144 acres would amount to 22,687 multiplied by 45, and the total multiplied by 144—the result beiiig 'gallons' of : water." This' amounts to 147 million gallons, being the amount of water that > would fall on our 144 acres in a year. 1 The next main point to watch is the > sine ot' the reservoir for impending ? purposes. In iorder to do tois, "»ne J must find the longest dry. '.pells from I the rainfalV records (ours is iiity-tbree | days). Our' population, say, 2CGO, allowing 40 gallons per head'per day, moans that we require 80,U0U gallons t per day, or 2,400,000 gallons per month. : i preferred to figure on only 130 acres - of catchment area in my calculations, ' to be certain 1 was" on the safe sido. 5 Consulting authorities. I deducted four. > tenths of the rainfall for evaporation, > seepage, and overflow, and sftor dis- , countißß everything necessary, I find 3 we have oyer six and a half m'«lion gal--1 lons per month .that we can rely 011, or 1 78,000,000 a year out of 147,000,000 1 caliotm. "Ratepayer" asks what abouta the low rainfall since Juno last. June, i 1014, to February, 1915, nine month?' 1 rainfall was 19.10 inches. It was tlie I lightest rainfall during the last sixty '> years, and unlikely over to happen ' again. At the same time, from close I" calculation's, I can tell "Ratcpayor" 3 that our reservoir would have been full a with a surplus, of ono and one-third a million gallons running to waste every v month. This finally demonstrates that r we cannot "fall in," as quoted by him. i "The drainage scheme that was put s before the ratepayers last time was to 1 cost £13,000; so where does the £40,000 I* conio in, and also his £35,000 for road " grading? Now, to rc-gradc, wouid mean compensation to most <>f the pro- ~ porty-owners who have built to the J street levels, given according io pret sent grades. I would liko. these correspondent to deny and provfe that wo do not get the rainfall. If they can r do that, I will say they are correct in e calling the scheme a fallacy. We are - asking for £22,500, and we cannot have '• more than the ratepayers' sanction, so * where does the bogus £97,000 come, in? fj The reticulation scheme- was taken out by our engineer. I hare been conrortiad mostly" shout the nuontit.v of ivuteh ' 1 aw sute there is RlwU ior

our purposo; in fact, enough for'throe times our population. "I'ro Bono Publico," in reply, to Mr. H. Kirkcalilio, says "according to Mr. Crump's figures it would bo possible to build a rcsfcrvoir in a dry gully and get abimdauco of water." _ Certainly it would, because there is no such thine as an ever-dry gully to he found in this country—tho even rainfall makes it impossible. So- there is nothing absurd at all about daruiuing a "dry" gully;'in fact, it is done'regularly in tho back-country of Australia for watering stock. Our gully has a permanent stream flowing through it. Riparian Rights'.—Both Onslow's Council and their solicitor aro satisfied that there is nothing, to''fear with re-, gard to compensation claims. Tho catchment owned by Ouslow is not more than one-third of tho : catchment area that feeds the stream lower down, and it is most important to bear this iu mind. Lot tho ratepayers of Onslow wake up and think, and 1 am sure the water scheme will go through. Onslow, a suburb of Wellington, with no more conveniences than a back-block with the exception of electric light. Can any borough expect progress that refuses to keep itself clean and healthy? Will the people of Onslow allow correspondents who are afraid-to sign their names to mislead them? I hope not. —I am, C. 0. CRUMP. ' Khandallah, March 15, 1915.