THE
New Zealand Times
(PUBLISHED DAILY)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1887
With which are incorporated the Wellington Independent established 1845, and the New Zealander
A water-famine appears imminent in Wellington, and the sooner the situation is resolutely faced the less will be the inconvenience, and even public danger, involved. We are quite prepared to be assailed with the silly parrot-cry that we are “creating a panic.” Be it so: in some cases panic is safer than mere stupid apathy. No intelligent person acquainted with all the facts of the case can help viewing with the gravest concern and apprehension the present condition and prospects of our much-boasted water supply.
Soften down the matter as we may, the hard fact remains that the supply has already to a large extent failed; while according to the precedent of previous years’ averages, we may look for three or four more months of dry weather before the regular winter rains set in. The last day or two a large portion of this city was for the greater part of the time without water, and this, not because the supply was intentionally cut off, but because the power was too weak to reach any but the lower levels.
The pressure near the sea level fell during working hours yesterday to 60 lb, instead of being more than double that amount. This “inexhaustible supply,” which was to allow unlimited consumption, and even waste, and still to leave a thousand horse power available for motive purposes, can now only furnish a weak intermittent dribble to the greater part of the city. What would happen in case of an extensive fire it is hard to say. What will soon happen to the public health if the scarcity continues it is easy to predict.
We should like very much to know what is the true position of the Wainui-o-mata water supply, and what is the real reason of its failure. The theory that the present scarcity is due to waste on the part of consumers will not do. That there has been, and still is, widespread, reckless, insensate wicked waste of the city water is beyond question. This ought to be at once put down with a stern hand.
A mild step has been taken in this direction by issuing a notice prohibiting the watering of gardens after 7 p.m. But that is not nearly enough. A strict and searching inspection is necessary, so that all waste through leakage of taps or pipes or otherwise may be detected, and in wilful or negligent cases may be rectified and the culprits punished. The good sense of the citizens may also be appealed to to assist in checking the present heedless squandering of water, which promises shortly to become far more scarce and valuable than it is agreeable to contemplate.
But waste by consumers will not nearly account for the shortness now experienced. It is said that over millions of gallons leave the Wainui reservoir daily for distribution in Wellington, or more than 100 gallons per inhabitant. Now we find it exceedingly difficult to believe that anything like this quantity really reaches the city.
It may be asked — where does the rest go to? In the first place, we are disposed to doubt the accuracy of the estimate. We question if the pipes could convey that quantity in the time. But in the second place there is notoriously a weak place in the concrete race which carries the water from the reservoir to the mains. We believe that a competent inspection would elicit the fact that that leak is of a far more serious character than is commonly supposed.
It has been calculated by a capable judge that it wastes as much water as would be conveyed by a 12-inch pipe. This is a formidable loss, and might in itself account for the deficiency in pressure. Nor are we satisfied that the character or quality of the works is all that could be desired. The frequent burstings of pipes have never yet been satisfactorily explained.
We should like to see a stringent independent inspection made into all these matters. It is well that the Council adopted the Engineer’s suggestion to establish a new communication with the old storage reservoir, but that cannot be completed before next summer, and we have to manage during the interval. An independent inspection ought to be made without delay, and the use of water engines, as well as all other wasteful methods, should at once be stopped.
Only very prompt and vigorous measures can avert or mitigate the water famine with which we are so seriously menaced.
