THE WAINUI DAM.
ALARMING REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
The City Engineer reported as follows to the City Council last night:—
“I visited this work again on Wednesday last. The whole of the pipes have been laid up to the valve at a distance of about thirty feet from the face of the present wall, and the construction of the intake works is now being proceeded with.
For this purpose it has been necessary to excavate behind the existing wall to the level of the new main. The wall thus exposed is 11 inches thick at the top and 14½ inches at a depth of eight feet below the top.
The material (concrete) of which it is composed is of an exceedingly poor quality — so much so that the aggregate may be removed with the thumb and finger, and scraped away with the thumb-nail.
The water, although lowered as far as it can be to keep up the supply through the race, finds its way freely through this wall where exposed, and also at each side of the excavation, showing the leakage to be general.
I think it right that the Council should know at once the condition of this dam.”
Tags: Dams Floods Newspaper Waterworks
