MANGAHAO WATER SHORTAGE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3743, 19 January 1928, Page 2

MANGAHAO WATER SHORTAGE.

WAIKAREMOANA ONLY ADEQUATE SOURCE OF RELIEF. • STREET LIGHTING MAY BE RESTRICTED. The significance of the present water shortage at the Mangahao electric works Avas referred to at the meeting of the Horowhenua PoAver Board on Tuesday. The chairman (Mr. Monk) drew attention to this condition, a factor in y which, he pointed out, was the circumstance that the new dam was not completed in time to catch the sprung rains. He stated that the Board’s engineer (Mr. Smith) had made every effort to batten the peak load and so help the Department by restricting the demand on the Avater porver. The chairman thought that Mr. Smith had been j successful in this respect to the ex- Jljj tent of inducing some of the larger consumers to change over to the night load. This change, however, brought those consumers on to a Mower rate, and so the revenue of the Board would probably be affected. While the Board was anxious to assist the Department over this crisis, members must not lose sight of the prospective financial loss. If ', this is continued avc may have to ask them to meet us to some extent. Wo also have to bear in mind the fact that wc have a pretty high consumption in this district. We can only hope that it will not come to an absolute crisis, where the power has to be cut doAvn. The chairman added that it had been suggested to him by Mi - . Smith that . the street light might be restricted as to hours instead of being given an all-night service. The Department had asked that this might be : done; and during- the fine weather. it could be done without any incon- . Y v venieneei 1 <v;' ; Mr. A. Seifert remarked that'if V.j all the Boards that Avere drawing supplies from Mangahao effected a restriction of the street lighting, a large saving of current would be brought about, as the district now served extended from Wanganui to 1 Wellington, to the Wairarapa, and up to Napier. For the Board the . j transferring of power consumption to the night load was really a serious matter. However, the outlook for the Department Avas also a serious one, and the Board had to do what it could to help. The position Avas hardly what they had anticipated, .and there might be a shock aAvaiting the Board at the. end of the year Avhen the finance:*;'" shoived the effect of reducing the re S ceipts without reducing the . ex-ft, ,penses. The top dam holds more than the other two together, hut the stand-by plant will not go out until .•». Waikaremoana comes on; that is quite evident noAv. 'He added that. . the Department, in taking the surplus power to Hawke’s Bay, had misruled the position as far as Boards in this district Avere con- . corned, and noAv the Department was finding a difficulty in fullfilling its obligations in Hawke’s Bay. YYlaikaremoana could ha\ T e been, speeded-up much faster than it had been. The key to the position was the time Avhen Waikaremoana could be added to this system. The demand had evidently groAvn some- ' what faster than the Department anticipated. ‘