ON THE RISE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3038, 27 March 1917, Page 5

ON THE RISE

WATER SUPPLY SEVERELY : TAXED. .

Wellington residents, ai.ro hardly aware how close the city was to a genuine drought' when, the good rain came .on Saturday night. On Saturday morning the level of the water in the Morton Dam had sunk to 28ft. below the lip of the by-wash—tho lowest it had ever sunk since the dam was built.: How low the water was can. bo judged from tho fact tha,t when the reservoir is full,- and running over; the deepest part of' the dam- (close to- the overflow) is 40ft., so that 6n Satimlay morning a. large area.-of the land'usually eovored to some depth, by water had become dry land, for the deepest-spot Was-only 12rt., Hill and . dales had developed slowly as the surface of the water Teoedea,- leaving here and there in tho depressions a Series of muddy pootls. As the result of the downpour on, Saturday night and Sunday morning a, riso of 4ft. was recorded..."ißetween 9 a.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. yesterday the recorded rainfall at Waittui was .35 .of an inch, malting 1.47 inoh6S in all since 9, a.m. >on Saturday. During the twelve hours ended at 9 a.m. yesterday the water rose another foot, and the report received, yesterday : afternoon was that the water was'slowly making. This does not mean' that any of the restrictions imposed last week aro to be eased. With the water so low in the dams, there is still need; for all tho precautions that were necessary last week. .

The unusually dry' spell and consequent shortage of water lias'quickened the authorities in the matter of mak- ■ nig a start with the.work of bringing the waters of the Orongorongo S&renm through a tunnel in the Mil into the Morton Dam. ' This work has been talked of for over ten years, and preliminary surreys .have been made, a,nd the flow of the stream measured. On Ss-turday, however, a gang of three,, men set out to construct a surveyors' camp on the ■ Orongorongo side of the hill, and a start will he made almost at once on the detailed survey, with the object of pushing on with the work during the present year.