Page:Municipal Handbook of Auckland 1922.djvu/169

 been placed on short rations, the water being turned off nightly at 6 p.m. and not turned on until 6 a.m. the following morning.

This auxiliary supply, with extensions, was subsequently adopted as the second part of a threefold scheme of water supply from the Waitakere Ranges. In 1902, acting under instructions from the Council, Messrs. H. Munro Wilson, C.E., and J. Carlaw (Waterworks Engineer) reported on a scheme of water supply from the Waitakere River, which made provision, by the erection of a dam, for the impounding of 220 million gallons of water, and two years later the Council engaged the services of Mr. Mestayer, C.E., of Wellington, to report on Messrs. Wilson and Carlaw's scheme and the question of further extension. He endorsed the report of the latter and, in addition, recommended the erection of a dam on the Nihotupu River, now under construction, and, when necessary, a further extension to the Huia. The water from Waitakere was turned into the City mains in 1906, and this, together with the running water from Nihotupu, is now supplying 107,000 people with 56 gallons per head per day. When the dam on the Nihotupu River is completed the available storage will be 840 million gallons. In order to preserve the purity of the water, the City Council controls over 10,000 acres of land in the ranges, embracing the watersheds of Waitakere, Nihotupu, and Huia. A portion of this land was purchased, but the greater part was obtained from the Government, which vested it as a domain in the City Council.