THE WATER SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 12

THE WATER SUPPLY.

Sir,—Not so long-ago there was a seiiotis shortage in one of the supply reservoirs of Wellington, and something like seven . million gallons of water was absolutely wasted.. Now, the City engineer knew at the time where tliis water was disappearing to; tho householders were liosinp their gardens! But the shortage became a stoppage in certain parts of the town, and no water would flow out of tho household pipes,,and so the City en. gincer, who has plans of all the waterpipe system, sent his-workmen fourteen miles out,of town to search the intakn pipils for this serious leak. lie also had workmen—with microscopessearching the foreshore from Oriental Bay to Petonc, trying to locate somo new flow of water that would bo a hint as to where the wasted water was hiding itself. Now comes n strange fact.. Nov/town bepanie "dry" in a . doublo sMisc—no water, no h?"er. Tho supply pipes, for Newtown pass; to the south from the direction of tho destructor, through the Basin ■''Reserve, and along Adelaide Ro(id. There was no water to be had in Adelaide Road when Newtown went dry, luit there was plenty of water ' at the Basin He serve and in Kent Terrace and Cambridge Terrace. That Is, wator at the north end of tho Basin Reserve and' noue at the 6outh

end. Still the workmen searched 14 miles out of town for the leak, until it was somehow located at tho south side of the Basin Reserve. Now, tho City is still Bhort of water, and the council have made by-law 6 relating to hosing paths and gardens, no doubt at the advice of tho City engineer. I would just like to point out that tha City engineer should put a stop to tho shameful waste of water that goes on in one of his own departments. All day long great volumes of steam can bo seen pouring out opposite the Municipal Fish Market. This goes on all night, too, thus wasting thousands of gallons of water that might bo saved and used again. Then the boilers in tho same building oan be heard blowing off, and great volumes of 6team passing up can be seen. This should not bo allowedj as it is a shameful waste of good water. It would never be allowed on a steamei for the safety-valve of the boiler to be blowing for hours at a time.. The steamer would noon bo short of water. —I am, eto., ENGINEER.