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The consumption of water from the Tytam Works during the month of November was 59,439,892 gallons, or 1,981,330 gallons per diem, and that during the month of December was 62,630,533 gallons, or 2,020,340 gallons per diem.
Distribution Works.-The Distribution Works consisting of several miles of cast-iron pipes laid in various parts of the City have been maintained in as efficient a manner as practicable without an undue expenditure on them, the fact being borne in mind that many of these pipes are shortly to be replaced by new ones of larger diameter.
The total expenditure on the maintenance of the water-works during the past year has been $6,428.75.
The Drainage Works.--The drains throughout the City have received constant attention and on the whole they have been maintained in an efficient state of repair and as free from deposit as can be reasonably expected, so long as the combined system of sewerage exists, at, a cost of $1,251.82.
NEW WORKS.
Pokfulam Filter-Beds and Service Reservoir.-The Pokfulam Filter-Beds and Service Reservoirs which were commenced in November, 1889, have now been completed.
The filter-beds are four in number having a total area of 1,360 square yards, the invert is constructed on the ridge and furrow system, and gauge wells are provided for the purpose of measuring the water passing through the filters.
The filtering material consists of 12 inches of coarse broken stone, 9 inches of stone broken to -inch cubes, 9 inches of coarse sand, and 2 feet of fine sand, the furrows in the invert being filled with very coarse broken stone.
The reservoir 141 feet in length, 35 feet in breadth, and 30 feet 6 inches in depth having a capacity of 940,000 gallons, is constructed of concrete faced with stone and covered over with brick arching carried on masonry piers.
The total cost of this work has been $39,485.59.
WATER DISTRIBUTION WORKS.
The final plans for the distribution of water throughout the City of Victoria having been approved and the pipes requisitioned early in 1889 having arrived main laying was commenced on the 19th April and has proceeded uninterruptedly
since.
I append a plan shewing the several districts into which the City has been divided for the purpose of checking the cost of the work, and a tabular statement shewing the lengths of pipes of various diameter laid, and the cost of the same in each district. The total length of mains laid during the year being 10 miles at a cost of $70,254.80.
Three small covered Service Reservoirs at a cost of $4,427.62 have been con- structed, viz.:~
One on the Peak Roud of 12,000 gallons capacity at a level of 700 feet
above Ordnance Datum;
One south of Inland Lot 715 of 112,000 gallons capacity at a level of
500 feet above Ordnance Datum; and
One south of the Pokfulam Filter-Beds 105,000 gallons capacity at a
level of 600 feet above Ordnance Datum.
At present only the first two of these are in use; the water is pumped up into then by the Hydraulic Motor which has been fixed in Garden Road, and afterwards distributed throughout the district between the Caine Road and the Pokfulam Conduit, but until the other hydraulic motors are fixed a constant high pressure supply is unobtainable in all parts of these districts,