Water for Auckland

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1056, 21 August 1930, Page 10

Water for Auckland

PROPOSED PROVIN CIAL BOARD Scheme to Lower Cost A .BILL for the formation of the Auckland Provincial W ater Board will be placed before Parliament this session by the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, Minister of Health. The Auckland City Council is at present considering a scheme of obtaining water from the llnmi a Ranges. The estimated cost of this project is £3.000.000. The board proposes to bring water from the Waikato River at a cost ol £700.000 .thus reducing the cost of water to consumers.

A circular concerning the proposed board has been issued by the committee which is sponsoring the Bill. This read as follows: As a result of the findings of the Water Commission which sat in 1927, local bodies are debarred from taking steps to provide a water supply for themselves, but, are called on to obtain their supplies from the City of Auckland. The population of the areas whose names appear on the Bill is approximately 80,000 and the desire of those bodies to provide water for themselves cannot be considered as unreasonable. At present the policy pursued in the matter of water is that of the City Council and tile price charged is fixed by it. Twelve months ago tile price was raised from Is 1,000 gallons to Is 3d, although the Water Commission thought there might be room for a reduction in price. At present, the City Council is considering a project which was laid before the commission, of obtaining water from Hunua Ranges. An engineer from Australia has reported on this at the request of the City Council, and estimates the cost to be not less than £3,000,000. The interest and sinking fund on this ■amount for a consumption of 10 million gallons a day would make the cost of water Is 4d a 1,000 gallons. The proposed Provincial Water Board would consider a supply from the Waikato River, the cost of which would be £700,000 and would provide pipes capable of delivering 15 million gallons a day, while 10 million gallons a day could be supplied at a cost of under Sixpence a 1,000 gallons. On the score of finance there can be no justification in spending £3,000,000 to ohtain water at Is 4d a 1,000 gallons when it can be had for an expenditure of £700,000 at 6d a 1,000 gallons. Moreover, the price under the board’s scheme would diminish as the consumption increased, whereas under the City’s proposals it must increase. GREAT AREA SUPPLIED The money is but part of the argument. The scheme considered by the hoard would provide for the requirements of an area far beyond that possible to the City scheme. It would enable water to be supplied to all the districts from Huntly in the south to the North Shore boroughs and to the summer resorts on the coast beyond Takapuna. At the present time the City Council does not supply water to any of the districts on the North Shore. It would provide an assured

supply in a dry summer and thus relieve tlie towns of anxiety and at the same time provide the farmer, the orchardtst and the growers of vegetables with the opportunity of taking advantage of sunshine. If assured of a supply of water there would be a development of small farms, which would greatly assist in remedying unemployment. This can be done without inflicting a rate on any local body for the charge for water v T ould meet the interest and sinking fund. Any local body which desires to join can do so, and the City Council can negotiate for the sale of its existing waterworks under the provisions of the Act. The committee submits that the Bill before the House will make it possible to carry out a public work of great benefit to a large part of the province, and that any attempt to defeat it in the interests of a limited area should not be tolerated. In the interest of its own ratepayers the City Council should join the board in place of going to thev for authority to raise a loan of £3,000.000 in order to obtain water at a high price. Even if they do not do so they -will not in any way be injured by the operations of the proposed hoard. An amendment stating the conditions on which the city can join the hoard is going forward with the Bill.