CITY WATER FAMINE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2675, 22 January 1916, Page 6

CITY WATER FAMINE

CAUSE DISCOVERED

BADLY FRACTURED MAIN

'The efforts of tlio City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) and his staff to locate the. leakage which was depriving tiie City of by far the greater proportion of its water supply ivore rewarded yesterday forenoon —to be precise, at eleven o'clock. The co-operation of the employees in the drainage department was enlisted in the work of ascertaining tlio source of tlio trouble, and unceasingly day and night a comprehensive investigation of the whole system has been carried on. This included the closest examination of tlio main from the Government station right out to AVainui. Men attached to the drainage department wero directed to inspect the labyrinth of sewers and culverts, as well as the outfalls on tlio harbour-front; to ascertain if the water was escaping into the storm-water drains, and yesterday morning their labours wero crowned with success. A twelve-inch water supply main runs right underneath the garden .reserve in Kent Terrace, thence through the Basin Reserve,- across Rugby Street (formerly known as Dock Street), and up Adelaide Road. On tlio footpath in Rugby Street, along the south side of 1 the Basin Reserve, and directly opposite Adelaide Road, the main crosses a culvert connected with the storm-water drainage system. At this pojnt, it was found, a large fracture of the main had occurred, and tho water was 'pouring into the culvert, which discharges below high-water level on the reclaimed ground on the harbour front. It was an examination of this culvert which led to the discovery of the burst main. One of the employees of tho drainage service entered one of the manholes of the culvert in Rugby Street, and immediately beard the noise of rushing water. The flooded culvert furnished a sufficient clue to what was happening, and excavation work at the point opposite the north end of Adelaide Road (aud nearly opposite tho Caledonian Hotel), whore the water main intersects the culvert at right angles, located the cause of the trouble —a serious break in the main. _ A similar leakage, by' the way, is said to have occurred at the same spot some twentyfive years ago. When the work of digging up the footpath and portion of the roadway—no light task —had been accomplished, it was discovered that the leak extended some distance outside the culvert. The main itself runs through the top of the culvert, directly underneath the bricked arch. A considerable amount of excavation .work had to he carried out before the length of fractured main was exposed and the task of replacing it could begin, but 110 wa-s lost in expediting the restoration of the normal water. ,6up>ply to the districts affected by the accident to the main.

A WATERLESS CITY. (To the Editor.) Sir, —AVho is the Corporation joker who forbids the citizens to water their gardens when they have been for the last three days without even a drop to drink? There is certainly some mystery about this shortage, and someone must have blundered to allow the Bell Road reservoir to become completely dry before the alarm was sounded.' It surely must be someone's duty to' know when a reservoir is not being supplied from the main --source, ■ and to take timely measures, to safeguard the City when the supply of water is daily growing less. It is to me inconceivable that it should take three days to discover a leak in the short distance of 14 miles of watermain-, that could be travelled over and examined in a few hours. It seems not to bo .realised that to leave thousands of citizens for days without water to drink or to flush their closets is a very serious matter, which should be dealt with energetically and • promptly. It speaks highly for the honesty of the community that there has been ijo outbreak of fires, but the danger, of an outbreak of typhoid or some other pestilence is not under any such control, and it is

iime the Water Department woke up before it is too late. —I am, etc., AQUA.