The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1939. WANGANUI’S WATER SUPPLY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 51, 2 March 1939, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1939. WANGANUI’S WATER SUPPLY

gEEING that conditions which now obtain have been in existence for seven years there cannot be much wrong with W anganui’s water supply. Had any radical defect been in existence it would have produced unsatisfactory results before now. The matter of removing cattle from part of the Okehu Watershed is, therefore, obviously not an urgent one.

“The quality of the upland area supply is not, however, satisfactory, due to the grazing of stock on some six hundred acres of the Okehu Watershed,” states the report of the District Medical Officer of Health. “The water from this source is highly polluted by uiiimal manure and, in my opinion, steps should be taken by the council to rectify this.”

In view of this report steps should be taken to comply with the recommendation of the medical officer at the earliest moment possible, but in doing so there is no necessity to become hysterical about the matter.

The water which people readily drink when picnicking in (lie. country, and much of the water used by the farming population, is just as much open to contamination from stock as is (he water from the upland area complained of. Running water filters itself by natural process and the fairly steep fall of the water from its source of supply to the point of the main’s intake is another purifying factor. In Australia some towns empty their sewerage into the rivers which form the water supply of the next town lower down the river, the latter community being saved from the polution by the length between the two towns. The practice, however, is undesirable, and the less polution which

goes on the better for all concerned. In removing stock from the upland area, however, if does nol appear to be certain that pollution will cease because the wild pig nuisance would increase. Added thereto would be the danger of fire. The problem is, therefore, not a simple one, nor is it to be solved only by cancelling an existing lease which appeared to have been entered into from proper motives. Meanwhile, such exaggerated terms as filthy water might be laid aside because the water from the Okehu urea is quite desirable. The problem is how to make it better than it is.