Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 407

( 179 )

2239

2240

2

3

A-In London, they have a universal service without control. They have no meters for domestic supply. The water is in all poor houses. It is admitted in evid- ence that the waste is very large.

By Mr. Master. Is it your opinion, having regard to our present source of supply, that we should practically be with an intermittent supply all the year round? For instance, during the summer months the supply is constant until November and then we are put on intermittent supply.

A-It is better to begin restricting in September. The Water Authority ought to know how much he has got in stock and a little experience should show him how long it will last. If it appears to be short, he should at once begin to make restrictions, either by intermittent supply or otherwise. It would be far better to begin restricting when everything is moist than to wait till this time of the year when everything is dried up.

Q-I understand that Taitam was never full this last year, but if they had given us an intermittent supply during the last summer, would it not have filled?

A-If the restrictions had begun in October, we should not be in such straits as we are now. I have just been going over the figures and see that a very fair supply has been given up till the beginning of the year. I think that was a very great mis- take. Looking back to the time when Mr. COOPER was here, he always cut the supply short in good time and then, if rain did come in the interim he resorted to his full supply again.

By the Chairman.-There are times, according to Mr. CHATHAM's evidence, when the Taitam reservoir overflows. He says it has not overflowed on two occasions only.

A-It is true that it does not overflow every year, but as it is large enough to store all the water in a dry year it will therefore be of little use increasing the storage, unless you make it sufficiently large to carry over a store from one year to another in which case the reservoir would have to be enormous.

Q--Would that not be possible?

A-It may be, but I would not like to say how much.

Q-But you might have to make another reservoir as big as Taitam to supple- ment a bad year with a good year. At present, all we attempt to do is to equalise one year's supply.

By Mr. Master.-Do you think it would be any use making reservoirs above Taitam so that they would be filled before Taitam ?

A-Unless you make these reservoirs big enough to contain enough to bring for- ward from season to season, it is not much use.

Q-There are gullies above Taitam, across which dams-I am speaking entirely unprofessionally-could be constructed, the result being that water could be backed high up in the hills, and in addition to the water in Taitam, there could be so many millions more stored above.

A-Unless you have a reserve to draw upon in the event of a bal year you can only take each year by itself. You get in so much rain and give out so much. Then there comes a big year of rain, if you want to do any good, you must take the surplus of that year to carry forward to the next, but what I contend is this, that you will require a very large reservoir indeed because, all the time that that water is lying more or less in stock, it is losing by evaporation and soakage into the ground as no reservoir is ab- solutely water-tight. It is thought in India, where they are dependent on reservoirs, that they want two years' store. I don't suppose that Taitain holds more than 200 days' supply, and that is about sufficient to equalize a bad year.

311