WATER AND DRAINAGE SCHEMES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2275, 12 May 1921, Page 2

WATER AND DRAINAGE SCHEMES.

ENGINEERS’ REPORT TO BOROUGH COUNCIL.

PRIORITY OF SECTIONS

The following report was submitted by Messrs W. H. Climie and Sons, engineers, to the Borough Council meeting on Monday night, respecting the water and drainage schemes: —

“AYe have the honour to report as follows on the question of the order of priority in which the various sections of the water and drainage schemes can best be carried out. “If, owing to the financial stringency, there is any possibility of further instalments of your loan not being available when required, th'e works undertaken with the £IO,OOO you have, should be .self-contained ms far as possible. “We briefly review what has alreadv been done.

“At the beginning of November a start was made to peg out the work throughout the town, and specifications were prepared, and tenders invited, early in December, for waterpipes, sewer pipes, manhole covers, artesian bores, pumps and gas-en-gine. The pegging and levelling of the sewer lines was completed in February, and we reported to the Council that unless the deeper sewers were commenced at once the whole of the sewerage scheme would be held up till next summur, owing "to difficulty in coping with subsoil water in deep trenches during .(lie winter. Your Council decided to start at once with day labour. Mr Reed was engaged as loroman, plant and materials were purchased, and the tender of the Cement pipe Company accepted for the twelve and nine inch pipes. Although held up for want of timber till the beginning of April, Mr Read lias made good progress, and notwithstanding the high price of pipes, has carried out the work thus far ten per cent, below our estimate. His Worship arranged with Messrs Brown and Rasmussen for- sinking two 3-inch artesian bores. These have been sunk under his direction, and an excellent flow obtained. Plans for the septic tank are completed, and others for the collecting reservior and water tower are in preparation. In view of the falling markets, your Council decided to extend the time for return of tenders for the balance of the plant and materials. Tenders for pumps and engine closed on the 2o(h ultimo, and those for water-pipes will close on the 13th June.

“The balance . of the nine-inch sewer, if the weather holds good will be completed in six weeks, and before starting on another section we suggest that a definite scheme of works be laid down by your new Council. The scope of the scheme will depend on whether additional instalments of the loan money wil bo available when required, concerning which matter you are better able to judge than ourselves. But in any ease, the endeavour should be to arrange the work so that each section can be brought into beneficial use as soon as completed. The question of maintaining local men in employment should not be lost sight of also. It should not be forgotten, too, that no section of the sewerage scheme can be brought into operation until the high pressure water supply is available, nor can it be brought into general use until the septic tank is constructed. The water supply therefore should he carried out at lea? t simultaneously’with the drainage and prior, to it if funds will not permit both, schemes being carried out sithultaneously. To enter into a contract for the whole of the water pipes at present would absorb practically the balance of the £IO,OOO, and if no more money will he available within six months we suggest that only those pipes which are required for the main street should be ordered in the meantime. If the collecting reservoir were constructed and the engine and pump installed the water supply would be available for fireprevention in the business area. We estimate that Ibis scheme could be done with the balance of the £lO,000 that you have in hand. “The valves, hydrants, and wat-er-pipes could not be delivered til! October at the earliest, and in the interim only a small amount of labour could be used in the construction of the collecting reservoir. If the foundations of this structure are put down much below high, water mark a power driven pump would he required to keep the water down in the excavation. This power could be derived from the engine that will be installed for driving the watersupply pump, but unless a suitable second-hand engine can. he procured at once the construction of the reservior will be held up for some time. The immediate necessity for the engine could he overcome by placing the foundations of the reservior at less depth. This will, however, redude the discharging capacity of the artesian wells by twenty per cent. To put the reservoir down to the lower level will involve additional expense, which will, we estimate, lie greater than the cost of another well. The discharge from the two wells at the higher level will be over two hundred thousand gallons per day, a supply which will be ample for your requirements for many years unless used very extravagantly. We therefore advise that the reservoir be not sunk so deep as to involve pumping by power during its construction.

•‘ln the event of a further instalment of the loan being available within six jnontlis, we see no reason

why the sewer construction should not be continued until stopped by difficulties due to subsoil water. This course would obviate the nee- j essity of discharging many of the men in. six weeks time.

“As regards the method of carrying out the work, owing to the difficulty of obtaining competiti:<W|or prices by tender, the day-labour* system under Mr Read’s able direction will give the best results.