Our Progress.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3613, 17 February 1906, Page 2

Our Progress.

ANOTHER WATER SCHEME.’

(TO editor of manawatu HERALD.)Sir, —As I see by your report of the last Council meeting that no better scheme has been proposed than that one resolved upon at the meeting of ratepayers held in the Council Chamber, viz., that six concrete tanks (or mud holes) should be sunk in the Main street, below the level of the roadway, for the collection gnd storeage, of the filthy water off the road-ways, through the side-channels, at a cost of or more, to act as reservoirs in case of a fire occurring in the Main street only. T will not trouble you about what - « may or may not happen should a" fire'occur, after some months, and’ the suction pipe of the fire engine be put into a rather thick solution called water, and the engine become useless through the pumps being clogged or the possibility of the tanks becoming putrid through there being no rain of any consequence for months at a time, because I do not think for a moment that such a scheme would finally be adopted when it came to be properly discussed. I will there 3 r ore try to pro nose a more acceptable scheme, .an 1 one tint would mpply, if it were only required, nearly a quarter of a million of gallons of water to almost any part of the most populous portion of the township ; but I must say that from the first I was adverse to proposing such a scheme, as I wished to try and supply the whole of the township with good clear water, but if it must be of a cheap md consequently a secondary quality, then I say, give us the best that can be had for the money. My proposal is that a dam should be put in the Awahou stream near the outlet at the wharf, about 10 bet deep. That would turn the creek into a large reservoir, perhaps higher up than MrG. Coley’s’ house, and if it was necessary another dam could be put a little higher up stream that would give a good depth of water at the Avenue bridge, say a length of dam altogether of about 500 feet, eight feet deep and seven feet wide, if so much were thought necessary; and here I may say that sluce gates could be put in, 3 feet square, so as to scour out the bed of the stream, as often as required, and there is also no fear of the dams becoming stagnant, as there is nearly always a good flow of water through the creek. That stretch of water would supply 20 large fire engines around most of the township, but the north end of the Town would be rather too far from the supply although the Main street would be well off for water, I therefore propose that a concrete tank 12 x 12 x 10 be erected in the triangle near Manchester House, and supplied by a two inch pipe from a windmill erected on the Awahou Bridge in Main street, the pipe being first taken at such a level, to allow the water to flow easily into the tank, about xo feet would ’ be high enough for the pumps. !► The same system could be extended to other sections of streets, such as Norbiton Bridge, &c., provided always that one tank was at a slightly lower level, than the other, so that the overflow from one would flow easily into the other, and the last tank draining

itself into the Awalaou again. I have written this hurriedly, as in your next issue I hope to propose, a clear water scheme, and trust that nothing else will ever be ■adopted.in Foxton. I am, etc., Aquarius.