ONSLOW WATER SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2419, 26 March 1915, Page 3

ONSLOW WATER SCHEME

Sir, —It is a pity that the Mayor does not answer the numerous inquiries in regard to the feasibility of his scheme from the points of view of the availability of the water and the cost. The Mayor says that all authorities are agreed as to the basis he has adopted for arriving at the water available. Can the Mayor point out any statistics that have been kept in New Zealand showing the water evapouration and water drainage? The Mayor does not say on what experiments his figures are based. The position may be and is no doubt entirely different here. The American experiments show that 60 per cent, of tho rainfall goes off in evapouration, leaving only 40 per 'cent., in the water gravitation. This result practically agrees with the rates quoted by some of the correspondents. A complete analysis of the Mayor's figures, which 1 hope to have leady at a later date, will show that there is a serious fallacy underlying them. In this connection 1 would like to ask the Mayor to solve the following conundrum. He saya that from June last year to February this, the reservoir would have been full with a surplus of one and a third million gallons running to waste every month. Two thousand people at 40 gallons per head per day would use 2,400,000 gallons per mont'h, which, added to the quantity ha says would run to waste, would make a total of at least 3,700,000 gallons per month. It is well known that for, months past the stream has been a mere trickle and has therefore varied very little in volume. In February the streams was gauged by a firm of civil engineers whose certificate will be available in due course. They certified that the flow was 26,000 gallons per day. Multiplying, by 30 this gives 780,000 gallons per month. The quantity that the stream actually produces is the real test, as it shows what would ba available. Compare tho engineers' figures with Mr. Crump's deductions! On a month's supply Mr. Crump is only 3,000,000 gallons out- at the least! Can anything be said more condmenar tory of his proposals?—l am, etc., NE SUTOR ULTRA CItEPIDAM. Khandallah, March 25, 1915.