Water Supply for Waimate.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 153, 23 May 1901, Page 1

Water Supply f or Waimate.

ENGINEERS wEdORT.

The foil nviog is Mie report presente I to the Waimato Borough Council in 1899 by Mr E. Dobson, M.LO.E. At the present time it will be sery valuable fo,c purposes of reference - South British Ohamb'r'i, Hereford Street, Christchurch, Ist August, 1890. His Worship the M^yor, Waimate. Sir,—l have the honour to forward the lollbtvmg report mj the proposed water supply for the town of Waimate : WATM.VTK WATEU bUPP.LV. Source of nupply.—TLu-ee so-rces of su p y ha,..e been suggested to me viz. : The Ho ;-k river, the Waihao rive-, at d the WaiiU'i.le c c k. It w-. u!d appear that when the Waimate crock fails the Hook ru s dry in its lower course, ■ which negatives the >dea of going to that creek to m; piement the local supply, whilst the cost of bringing in water from Iho Waihao effectually disposes of the idea of taamg a supply from that source. Falling ba-k then upon the local supply, v.hat amount of water'can life taken from the Wannabe creek without iutmf ring with the riparian rights of those coeupving land frouting the river below the gorge ? The re ult of the gauging taken early in Time Luff, showed the surface flow of the Waim ..t« creek, at the entrance to the gorge, to be about 150 gallons per minute, or in round numbers, about 200,000 gal ous for twenty-four hours. This however, was at a time when many of the C mteibury rivers were toe low to maintain a continuous surface flow, and on gmming Hie stream a few weeks laier, I found a discharge of 2,000.000 gall -os fm- twenty-four hours, and was informed by a resident n -ar the spot tint in ordinary years the stream seldom fed below a level pointed out to me, which indicted a daily flow dX b 'tween four and five mi lion gallons. This is, however, of course, a mere drop to what co nes down in flood time, of: even after a lew days of continued rain. Bearing in mind that in addition tb the main stream, there is a permanent creek by which it is joined some distance below the gorge, I do not think that any iet;al objection cou d be taken by too occupiers ef land fronting thfe river below, to the diversion from the g -rgo of the water required for -the supply of the town—-Lo an extent coy, not exceeding 760,000 gallons for twentyfour hours. No step of this kind should however betaken except under legal and it would probably be necessary tt obtain »n Act for the partial diversion of the water, in order to prevent all chance of subsequent litigation on the part of the riparian owners Town Requirements. —The requirements of town supply may ba olaa».e& under three heads, viz ; 1 Domestic aorvic's. 2. Extinction of fire, 3. Provision of mechanical power fot small motors, or tor electric lighting. Arrangement of mains.—W bate vet scheme may lie adopted by the Council, 1 uljouln recommend that the principal mains should be brought from the sourefc of supp’y, down the Mill road and along Qu'en street, to the corner of the Parsonage road, with a cross main extending al mg High street from thfe Town Belt to the railway cro singg these mains being provided in the town, with fire plugs, not more thun five chamfe apart. The reticulation of the side streets fob tiie distribution of the water to private houses will lie considered separately from i he question of the principal niainfe Lo be laid on the lines here indicated to bring the water into the town, for which ms a public benefit the who’e of the -town properties may fairly be rated. Domestic Service.—Taking the popula„ tion at 1500 and allowing thirty gallons daily per head, the present daily demand for domestic use would be only 45,0 Qt gallons; a three inch pipe would bring down 72,000 gallons, which would empty provide for a considerable 'increase df popula ion. The provision of a pipfe smdler than three inches is scarce worth consideration, a three inch pipe being the smallest size that would bs really serviceable for fire extinction. A very useful supply might be brought into the town on this basis, taking the supply from the creek crossing the M ll .. road, about three miles from towu. No service reserver would be required, but it would be desirable to erect a raised tank to bold 8,000 gillons in the centre of the town, to keep up the supply in the mains during a special demand fofe water as in the case of fires. The cost of this scheme w ould bfe approximately £ e. d.

This scheme would however be defective, as the m ins 'would nob be larg-* enough to give the requisite pressu'ein case of fire, although they would furnish a fair supply of water ifor the manual engines until that >iu itfcp iContinued

Pipe headworkg 50 0 a 380 chains equal 8360 yds three-inch pipe, at 5s. ... 2090 0 13 Tank in township, 8,000 gallons. ... 160 0 0 2290 ‘0 $ Land compensation and eng’neering superinten- ... 200 ”0 r *--! £2590 0 .0