NO NEED FOR FEAR

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20743, 1 March 1939, Page 8

NO NEED FOR FEAR

ARAPUNI WATER LEVEL POWER SUPPLY UNAFFECTED ABNORMAL CONDITIONS RULING When the suggestions of a possible shortage of electric power from Arapuni were referred to-day to Mr A. C. Caldwell District Electrical Engineer, Hamilton, he said there had been no water flowing over the spillway since February 10 but that was as a result of the recent dry period and the fact that power was being supplied to the Wellington district where there was a shortage. Certainly there was no need for alarm, as the supply was unaffected. Mr Caldwell said that Arapuni had never previously exported • large amounts of power to the south for 24 hours a day for seven days a week. Five turbines were in operation at the power station with a sixth unit at present being overhauled. Although the level of the water in the headrace had fallen by a few feet it could fall several more feet before the storage in the lake was exhausted. The lake was five square miles in area and if an emergency arose a great volume of water was yet available. Level Recovers at Week-end One of the purposes of the lake at Arapuni was to store water to feed the turbines. From Monday to Friday, when the maximum load was being handled, the level of the lake had been falling steadily but each week-end it reverted when the load was decreased. Referring to the surveys of the river near Cambridge for a possible power station site, Mr Calderwell said, the work had been carried out to make provision for the future when it could not be expected that Arapuni could supply all the power required in the province. Even if no water was flowing over the spillway at Arapuni it would not affect any scheme which was carried out at Cambridge as all the water passing through the Arapuni turbines flowed out into the river again. In the same way Horahora was not affected by the low level of the water in the Arapuni headrace. Any rumours that leaks had occurred in the dam at Arapuni were entirely groundless.