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The present water position is the most serious the Colony has had to face for very many years and it is not suprising that a house supply to all Rider Main Districts cannot be given at this critical time.
It was on 1st November, 1928, that the Rider Main Supply was discontinued, and a constant supply by street fountains only had to be introduced as at that time the storage in the Reservoirs had fallen to 1,410 million gallons and the consumption on full supply had just previously reached the maximum of about 12 million gallons a day.
The present storage in the Reservoirs is 162 million gallons and the consumption has been reduced to about 3 million gallons a day, due to restrictions and to the Water obtained from outside the Colony.
Not until the storage in the Reservoirs has again approached the figures for last November (1410 × 10.6 gallons) can restrictions be entirely removed.
During certain periods of every year restrictions have had to be resorted to and the supply from Street fountains has taken the place of the house supplies in the Rider Main districts.
It is most unfortunate that owing to the continued drought it has been found neces- sary to reduce the Street fountains supply and introduce the still more irksome Tank system, the water for which has to be obtained from outside sources.
The maximum consumption when the City is on full supply has been shewn to be 12 million gallons and with the present restrictions in force the consumption has been reduced to 3 million gallons.
The houses served by the Rider Mains are in the most thickly populated part of the City, and, owing to their height (4 storeys) and the difference in levels of the hill side upon which they are built, unless the city is divided into sections from East to West a supply of 2 hours to the whole Rider Main district would only result in unequal distribu- tion the lower storeys of the houses on the lower levels would alone obtain a supply. whilst the upper storeys and the higher level houses would obtain little or no water. The consumption would also be excessive in the houses obtaining a supply.
If a rider main supply were now introduced in the various sections of the City for 2 hours it would result in a rise in the consumption to 6 million gallons and this rate of consumption is impossible under the present circumstances.
The rider mains can be shut off from the principal mains independently without affecting the metered supplies, but when all or any section of the Rider Main supply is in operation, either direct to the houses or through the fountains, the principal mains from which they are fed must necessarily be in action.
The proposal to discontinue the free allowance of water to metered supplies is be- ing considered, and no doubt any move in this direction would have the desired effect of further restricting consumption.
A house supply to Rider Main properties at the present time is utterly out of the question, and no matter what supplies might be brought into the Colony they should be utilized to increase the present storage, and not the consumption, until the position has vastly improved. This cannot be too strongly emphasized.
TANK SYSTEM OF SUPPLY.
A house service supply being impossible, the only course left is to supply through Tanks sufficient water at as convenient points as possible. If perfected, this system of supply from tanks becomes the exact equivalent of a constant supply by street fountains, a system which it has been frequently necessary to have recourse to in the past.