AN IMPROVED WATER SUPPLY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1938, Page 6

AN IMPROVED WATER SUPPLY.

A DEFINITE step towards clearing up the whole question of improving the Masterton water supply was taken at the meeting of'the Borough Council on Tuesday evening, when the Engineer (Mr C. R. Mabson) was instructed to prepare a scheme for improving the gravitation supply of water from the Waingawa River. How far the council and its ratepayers are prepared to go in this matter no doubt depends on the cost -of such an improvement as is now to be planned, at least provisionally, and upon the benefits to be anticipated.

In any case, hopes of supplementing the existing water supply by sinking bores appeal' to be extinguished by the statement of the Director of Scientific and Industrial Research that: “From the evidence available, there seems to be little chance of obtaining a large supply, of subsurface water from the low lands in the vicinity of Masterton.” Some doubts as to the advisability of going in for a scheme of that nature were warranted on the.ground, that the installation of pumps would have been necessary, entailing working and renewal costs on an appreciable scale. If adequate quantities of water are not available even on these terms, however, the only alternative, as the Mayor (Mr T. Jordan) has said, is to go further up the Waingawa River and get a good supply.

Engineering reports presented a good many years ago, which no doubt are still in the possession of the council, show that the construction of an intake in the Waingawa Gorge would give an improved and safeguarded water supply and a considerably increased pressure. This last is a factor of the utmost importance, not only as it bears on the general efficiency of the supply, but in providing against the contingency of an outbreak of fire in the upper floors of the taller buildings in the town. The security of the supply also is extremely important. The present soakage intake on the Waingawa is liable to be destroyed by a heavy flood, and it has to be remembered that flood damage is tending to become more serious as time goes on.

Undoubtedly at present there is a considerable wastage of water, but short of the universal installation of meters, at heavy and unproductive cost, it is doubtful if any practicable means can be devised of checking this waste. Even if waste were entirely eliminated, the question of making the supply secure and providing a better pressure for fire-fighting and other purposes would still deserve consideration. It is certainly desirable that the facts of the position, the possibility of improvement and the amount of expenditure entailed should be set out in clear detail. Mr Mabson’s report on the subject will be awaited with a great deal of interest.