Otane Water Supply

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 39, 2 March 1937, Page 9

Otane Water Supply

J. N.

BAEKIE.

(To the Editor) Sir, — In view of the varioai reporte on the insuffieiency of the Otane water supply I find unofficially that approximjtfcely forty thousand gallona aro pumped every twenty-four hours, and yet despite this there has been a distinct shortage of water for a long time, 1 and during the past f ortnight praetically none at all has been available on the higher levels. When the Patangata County Council first decided to put the water through the old petrol-gas mains it was publicly pointed out that there was sure to be a big leakage as the mains had been rustmg for many years. The council would persist with this harebrairied scheme, and evidently that is what is becoming of the bulk of the water pumped. , • It is an . open secret in the district, that. the county engineer was not consulted when the water scheme was instituted, and that the county office had documentary evidence through the minute boolc of the late Town Board that an engineer had reportod ad"versely on the site as a source of supply for tne town, and yet the council has squandered well over £2000 on the scheme. Tnis, in my epinion, con* stitutes a much graver scandal.than the doings of tiie Hospital Board where the sum involved was trifling as compared with this wapte of public money by the council. I am only voicing the opinion of- a great many when I say that while the Government is makigg a public inquiry into the doings of the Hospital Board fchey should also turn the limelight on to the inner working of the Patangata County Council. — Yours, otc.,

marcii J,, jyoY.