RESERVOIR WILL BE WELCOMED
Trying Time For Wainui Homes On Water Rations
Among those who will welcome the new reservoir at the end of Sunny Grove, Wainuiomata, which is expected to be completed and in operation in a fortnight, will be residents of the grove itself.
The reservoir, costing approximately £3000 and intended to be a secondary to the new million-gallon reservoir now in construction in Wainuiomata, will enable Sunny Grove housewives to bathe the children and wash the clothes without having to wait till late evening for water.
For the last few months, due to extreme pressure on the water pipes while the million-gallon reservoir is under construction, some residents of Sunny Grove have had no water during the day, only being able to wash their dishes after the rest of Wainui had been served and the pressure was slack.
Two housewives, both with young children, said today that housework had been very difficult under the conditions. One woman had had to sit up at night waiting for the water to come on. Then she had been able to give her little girls, aged four and eight, their baths and catch up on dishes and clothes. Her husband had to wait until about 10 o’clock for a bath.
During the day she had either gone down the hill, up which the Grove inclines, to get water from a shallow stream or go without.
Another housewife complained that with two babies in the house she had been unable to wash their napkins for lack of water. “Yet,” she said, “I can go down the road and see people merrily hosing their houses or lawns.”
“The situation is in hand,” said the area engineer for Hutt County (Mr. J. Hunt) this morning. The secondary reservoir would be ready in about two weeks and Sunny Grove’s troubles would be over.
Those people who used their hoses during the day in Wainuiomata were breaking the law. Hosing was allowed from 7.30pm to 7.30am.
The secondary reservoir will be used for major fires and other emergencies after the big reservoir is opened about the end of the month. The latter reservoir would easily accommodate the whole of Wainui.
