WAIHOU RIVER.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5488, 16 October 1929, Page 3

WAIHOU RIVER.

PUBLIC WORKS IMPROVEMENTS. A NAVIGABLE CHANNEL. The Waihou River has been considerably bettered through improvements made by the Public Works Department during the last few years. In the upper reaches extensive dredging has been done with the idea of obtaining sand for various works and securing spoil for the stop-banks. But incidental to this work, many snags have been removed, so that now, as a result, there is a very much better run. Consequently, when the tide —which is felt as far as Tirohia—goes out, water gets away very much more rapidly, and this compensates for the effect of floodwaters getting into the river more quickly. To the Puke bridge it is now a good, fast stream with a natural channel. Navigation by small craft is not restricted by tides, but the journey is usually made at flood tide to connect with the steamer at Paeroa. Stop-banks extend as far as Mangaiti. The lower portion, from the Puke bridge to the mouth, presented a different problem. To ensure navigation for vessels of any tonnage a channel had to be dredged, not out of any silt accumulated during the last 15 years but through original hard country. ■ Consequently, dredging created a permanent improvement which the river, in the ordinary course of events, could not have given. This channel stretches from the Puke bridge to a point some 10 miles down-stream, and is kept automatically scoured by the cleared upper reaches of the river. Form this point to the mouth of the river, and in, the actual channel as well, the opinion is held by some that the churning of the water by the propellers of steamers helps, by the disturbance caused, to prevent the formation of obstructions and sand-banks. Should the steamer service be withdrawn, it is maintained by those who hold this view that there will be every chance of the river silting up. The Public Works Department, however, does not share this opinion.