Wairarapa Times-Age Thursday, November 23, 1939. AN IMPROVED WATER SUPPLY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 November 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age Thursday, November 23, 1939. AN IMPROVED WATER SUPPLY.

ALTHOUGH the present, period is one of high costs, there V does not seem to he any escape from the conclusion that the improvement, of the Masterton Borough water supply om-ht to be undertaken without further delay. It may De doubted whether anything short of a comprehensive scheme, providing for the construction of ft new intake in. the o-oro-e in place of the present somewhat unsatisfactory and hisecure soakage intake, ami extending to all necessary details of supply mains, storage and efficient reticulation, wdl be reall.t economical. Since, however, the outlay of Irom £u0 ; 0(0 to £60,000 that would be entailed in carrying out a lull scheme of major improvements is hardly practicable in existing circumstances, the limited proposal approved unanimously by the Borough Council on Tuesday evening—the raising of a loan 01. £lO,OOO towards the cost of cleaning and concrete lining the supply mains—may be preferable to allowing the existing state of affairs to go from bad to worse. It will rest in any case with the ratepayers, to whom, subject to the approval of the Loans Board, a loan proposal is to be submitted, to say whether the work of reconditioning the mains is to be iputTn hand during the coming winter. The benefit promised is an increase of approximately thirty per cent in the delivery of the pipe lines and it is a luithei recommendation that the work proposed is declared by the Borough Engineer (Mr Mabson) to be definitely part of a major scheme of water supply improvement. The acute shortage of water experienced of late in some, parts of the town is due in part to the wasteful and extravagant drain imposed by a proportion 01. the consumers upon the available supply. Abuses of this kind call.for drastic regulation, enforced by adequate penalties. The installation <d. meters, which is favoured by the Mayor (Mr Jordan) and a, good many other people, would provide an absolute cheek, but is open to obvious objections. In addition to a heavy capital expenditure on meters, some continuing costs would be involved, and for all this not an additional spoonful of water would be obtained. It seems desirable at least that a really serious effort should be made to regulate the use of water and to penalise waste before the adoption of the metering system is considered. To a considerable extent, hitherto, restrictions on the use of water have been a dead letter, but, this state of affairs could hardly continue if persistent action were taken to bring offenders to book. Whether the borough supply is or is not augmented in the manner now proposed, it will still be necessary to penalise the unwarranted waste of water if legitimate needs are to be met. Indeed, this would hold good even if a major improvement ol: the water supply were carried out. As the Mayor observed on Tuesday ('veiling, no pipes the council could afford to put down between (he headworks and the town would enable people to use water indiscriminately. Provided the right conditions ol: regulation are instituted, however, an increase of thirty per cent on the present supply should be of considerable value, both for purposes of fire-fighting and in strengthening the flow—often all too feeble at present—from household taps. It seems desirable that, before the ratepayers are asked to vote upon the proposal now approved. by the Borough Council, the leading financial and other details of a comprehensive scheme of water supply improvement should he outlined, and a clear idea given of the relative place the current proposal takes in that scheme.