The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1922. BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 January 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1922. BOROUGH AFFAIRS.

At the meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council last Monday, two matters of special im. portanee were under review, namely, water supply and sewerage. With regard to the water supply, the engineer submitted a report on the approximate quantity of new mains needed in the various areas of the borough, both for ordinary and fire services. He estimated the cost of meeting present requirements in this 'matter at over forty-five thousand pounds, and the problem was how to proceed with only a ten thousand pounds loan available. The report stated that there are twelve miles of tubing laid of less diameter- than two inches, about nine miles of which is under one inch, the greater length being only three-quarters of an inch, so that in many streets there is little chance of the best equipped fire brigade coping with even a small outbreak, while there is grave risk of serious loss, especially at the higher levels. Although the engineer was faced with the initial difficulty of classifying the streets to be first supplied with a new or improved service, he evolved a schedule that is probably as good a makeshift as could be devised, hut it does little more than touch the fringe of an adequate, system for the whole of greater New Plymouth in view of its growth since the present reticulation was instituted. The question of a water supply sufficient to meet the needs of the whole borough for some time to come for all the purposes for which it is needed is | a matter for serious consideration, ! more particularly in view of the time when the urgently-needed provision of a complete sewerage system is put in hand. An ample service of water is absolutely essential to safeguard the health of the residents. That there has been a grave dereliction of duty in this respect on the part of councillors in the past admits of no denial. There has been a total absence of forethought and a

culpable policy of taking the line of least resistance—a patchwork way of never doing to-day what could be put off till to-mor-row, with the result that the heap of things to be done has accumulated until the cost to be faced has become very considerable. To-day the water question is one of the outstanding examples of this. The engineer estimates immediate requirements at £45 000, but there is only £lO,OOO earmarked for the work, while it may be that the actual work which should be put in band in connection with a satisfactory

water supply would involve an expenditure of over £lOO,OOO. As to the sewerage problem, the situation is so grave that the general manager has been impelled to warn the council of the menace that exists in connection with , the discharge from the septic tank. In effect this tank is now, and for a long time past has been, absolutely useless so far as its proper functions are concerned. Even it it were capable of doing, a small amount of its work—which it no t it is so overtaxed that the sewerage flows in and out with practically no serviceable change in its constitution. It is discharged into the stream that, runs through the centre of the town practically in the same state as it enters the tank, so that the stream is now a sewer discharging into the sea, but when high tides occur, and the stream becomes sta-

tionary, the sewage particles fall to the bed of the stream and become a menace to the health of the people and a. nucleus for epidemics. In reporting on this matter, the borough engineer entered briefly into the question of what system should be adopted in the future for dealing with sewerage. It would seem that a question of this importance is one that should be dealt with by a specialist in this branch of sanitation, it being essential to prevent the foreshore, which is a great asset to the town, from 'being contaminated with sewerage, which can profitably be utilised by converting the waste land in the. sandhills area into cultivated territory. Possibly the large . expense involved may appal the ratepayers, but necessity knows no law, and the health of the people is the first consideration. Manifestly no steps can be taken in this direction until the levels of the whole of the streets in the borough are taken and recorded. This work .is now in hand, but will take probably twelve months to finish. Meanwhile it is urgent that temporary measures be put in hand to overcome the evil arising from the uselessness of the septic tank. Although the cost of this work may be matter for regret, the risk is too great to avoid the outlay. It is a legacy of past mismanagement and parsimony by the Council in providing only one instead of two tanks. Errors such as this are always costly. The need for a broader outlook and greater foresight is obvious. If the Council had taken advantage of the more important opportunities they had in the past for carrying out. works that would have meant much for the town,- many oi the present difficulties would have been conspicuous by their absence, and New Plymouth would now be a model town.