The Water Supply – Official Visit to Wainui – Reservoir Full Once More
The City Council, accompanied by the leading officials, made their annual visit of inspection to Wainuiomata reservoir yesterday. The drive out was highly enjoyable, and the walk up Wainui hill was at least beneficial. It was a brown, parched prospect by the way – a result of the long drought – and across the dividing range wide stretches of burnt bush show where the Day’s Bay and Gollan’s Valley fires have travelled across the hills. One oasis showed in the scorched Hutt Valley. This was the place known as Ward’s paddock; a spot which was constantly before the public and Parliament some two years ago because of the harassing operation upon it of the unimproved value of rating adopted by the controlling municipal body. Nowadays the paddock is a market garden, run by a syndicate of Chinese, and the use of artesian wells has kept it fairly green and fruitful. Exactly thirteen Chinamen were leaning curiously on their hoes as the municipal party drove past. As the party drove up the Wainui Valley the shrunken creek below the reservoir made a cheerless sight for the city councilors, but half a mile from their destination they were cheered by a well-sustained rainfall that continued well into the afternoon. The inspection of the artificial work at the reservoir disclosed a necessity for some slight repairs to the concrete dam, which is showing some slight signs of its twenty-five years’
wear, but all in all the inspection showed satisfactory results, and the generous rains have resulted in rapid rise of the water. Last Saturday there was a drop of nearly four feet from the crest of the overflow wall, but at mid-day yesterday, the water was within fifteen inches of the wall top, giving surety that by today there would be an overflow, and an end to the spectre of water famine that has haunted the citizens for many weeks of this year.
