City Council Busy on Water Question

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 66, 21 March 1944, Page 6

City Council Busy on Water Question

Soak-well Versus Tiritea Two hours were spent by the ralmerston North City Council last night on the water question. Two motions were on tlio order paper but only one was dealt with. It was Cr. J. T. J. Heatley’s endeavour to get permission for a certain contractor to sink a soak-well. He was defeated. The second, motion in the name of the Mayor and referring to a new dam at Tiritea, will be dealt with at a special meeting next Monday night. The Mayor moved that loah proposals be placed before the ratepayers, as follows:—(1) To borrow £72,000 for the purpose of erecting another dam at Tiritea IJS feet in height, which will impound 448,000,000 gallons of water. (2) To borrow £42,000 for the completion of the 21-inch supply main to Tiritea. (3) To borrow £IO,OOO to acquire land at present privately owned in the watershed. Cr. J. T. J. Heatley moved: “That in view of the fact that the engineering department has failed, after over two months' operations, to construct a well, that tho offer of Mr. H. Jensen to construct a concrete lined well 8 feet in diameter and 50 feet deep at a cost not exceeding £6OO, be accepted and that the well be sunk on the terrace, adjacent the Fitzherbert bridge (County end), up stream side, and that all work on the present well be suspended." Analyses of the soak-well water received by the Council showed it to be quite good from both the chemical and bacteriological aspects. Cr. Heatley criticised the way Council employees had gone about sinking the present well and added that the real water which the citizens should have got, had not been touched it was deeper down. He also criticisca the choice of site for the well after the Council having given instructions that it should be sunk up on the terrace where it would be immune from a It) and lGft. flood. One saw the effect on the water when a fresh came down the river recently, because of the well being down on the river bed. Cr. F. G. Opie seconded the motion. Cr. J. Hoilgeus, M.P., raised a* point of order, 110 said the standing orders required 7 days' notice for a notice oi motion whereas only 4 days had been given. He felt he could not discuss such important proposals at so short notice. The Mayor said that there was no need for notices of motion. The fact that the motions would be moved had been revealed to Councillors so that they would come prepared. Cr. Hodgens said he wanted time to collate all the reports which had been before the Council. , Cr. Smillie also appealed for time. The Mayor thought the Council could deal with Cr. Heatley's motion but Cr. G. Tremaine thought the two matters were wrapped together. He also wanted more information. The Mayor said that if tho Council wanted more time, he would hold ovei his proposal but Cr. Heatley’s motion dealt with a distinctly different proposition. Cr. Opie backed up the soak-well proposal, saying that the whole future of the city's water supply was involved. All the advantages were on tho side oi the soak-well. The disadvantage of Tiritea was that it gave storage only and not water. Twenty dams at Tiritea would not put one pint moi - e water into the stream. The draw-off to-day was 3,000,000 gallons and in ten years would be probably double. The city wanted to bo in a position in any dry spell, to be able to use water for all purposes and the soak-well scheme would give an inexhaustible supply. Cr. Opie dealt with the cost of the Tiritea scheme, saying tlio Mayor's estimate of £124,000 took no account of the planting of the area, extra filtering needed, and cost of desilting the third dam which it was proposed to build. The interest on £124,000 at oi per cent, was £4340, to which must be added sinking fund and cleaning costs. Against the soak-well scheme had been slung the cost of pumping which, on the engineer's figures, would work out at £5040 but the well would only be needed for about four months of the year so that would reduce pumping costs to £I6BO. And it had to be remembered the capital outlay would only be £6OO. Furthermore, the soak-well could be operating within a month, whereas the city would have to wait five years for the dam to be built. He asked why the water from the temporary well had been chlorinated. The report of the analyst had shown that that was not necessary. What would be the position when the city’s draw-off was double what it was now? Tiritea would be obsolete but the soak-w ell w ould enable them to tap an inexhaustible supply. Capital costs would be practically negligible and pumping costs would bo no greater than interest and sinking fund on a Tiritea outlay. The Mayor said the resolution was to accept a contract from a man making his own conditions, and without anyone else being given a chance to compete. That was entirely opposed to council policy in tho past. Further, Mr. Jensen wanted the council to get certain of the necessary gear and would not that add to the cost ? The Mayor said he did not propose to discuss further the merits of the soak-well or of a Tiritea scheme for that matter, because the motion was plainly for the acceptance of a contract. Tho council would be ill-advised to accept a contract without competition. Or. Hodgens ‘said the object of the council should be to prevent a recurrence of what had happened this summer. He agreed with tho Mayor that the council could not accept some of the conditions asked by Mr. Jensen but nevertheless he could understand the desperation of Cr. Heatley who had championed tho soak-well idea over a number of years. The experimental well had cost £1476 but so far the council had no data as to what quantity of water had been lifted out. Cr. lloclgens urged that councillors should pay a visit to Hamilton and see what was being done there with pumping out of the Waikato. He was concerned very much with the quantity of silt which found its way into the Tiritea dam and if another dam were built some provision must be made for cleaning it out. Being the second to last meeting of the council and with the wet months ahead, Cr. Hodgens urged hastening slowly. The Mayor again appealed for discussion to be kept to the offer of Mr. Jensen. Cr. Smillie pointed out that the capital outlay was more than £6OO. What about the cost of the pump and pipes'? He agreed that tenders should be called for the work. Cr. G. Tremaine asked for information as to the cost of completing the temporary well the council had constructed, and could it be accomplished for under £6OO. If another well were necessary then tenders should be called. Cr. T. R. Lees briefly intimated that h© was against tho motion. Cr. E. H. Smith could not agree that the engineering department had failed with the temporary weU a the excavation

of which had cost £497. The balance of the total of £1476 was made up of electrical charges and cost of pipes, etc. He thought Mr. Jensen’s offer had been made in good faith. Cr. A. Grigor said he could not support the motion. Cr. Heatley said Mr. Jensen had asked the council to get certain gear from the Public Works Department because he thought the Council would be in a better position to do that. As regards pumping costs, he had no fear of them. Mr. Jensen had the plant and the matter was one of urgency. The present temporary well would never be a success. The only councillors voting for the motion were Crs. Heatley ami Opie. The Mayor’s motion will be considered at a. special meeting to be held next Monday night.