THE WATERWORKS CONTRACT. THE PRESENT POSITION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2712, 18 January 1910, Page 5

THE WATERWORKS CONTRACT.

THE PRESENT POSITION.

MAYOR AND COUNCILLORS. IN-

SPECT THE WORK

On May Ist, 1906, a contract was made between the Gisborne Borough Council and : the Spiral Steel Pipe Co. Ltd., of Wanganui, for the installation of a waterworks scheme, and the time for the completion of the works 12 months. After an extension of 6 months had been granted to the contractors, the work dragged wearily on, and it is only during the past fortnight that the Council has been notified to the effect that the work has been completed. Mir Robert Hay, C.E., of Dunedin was retained to look after the in. terests of the Council during the progress of the work, and although he arrived from South last week unknown to the Council, and visited the pipe line, returning South the same evening, the Council was not satisfied that the work had been properly carried out, and a visit of inspection was decided on. This took place yesterday, those present being the Mayor (Mr W. D. Lysnar), Crs. Smith, Somervell, Dar ton, Maynard, and press representatives. The party left town at 6 a.m. in two buggies and returned late in the evening, but unfortunately the result of their investigation cannot be said to disclose a satisfactory position. In view of the lapse of time since the details of the contract were first made public, a repetition of a few of the main features may be of interest. The line runs from town via Makaraka, Matawhero and Te Arai, thence up the valley road, following the main Arai river for ,a long way, finally turning up along, side the tributary from which the supply is derived. The total length of jhe line is 21 miles, and the pipe is a loin, one all the way, with the exception of about a mile and a half from the headworks to the first break-pressure tank, where the pipe is nine inches in diameter. There are two break-pressure tanks installed comparatively recently, as it was found that the power of the supply was too great for the pipe line. From the first of these a pressure or 1731b5. is obtained and from the second llOlbs., which is the pressure at present being given in town. The pressure in town originally contracted for was 1751 bs v , but as it" was found that the line -would not stand this, the Council agreed! to accept loOlbs. pressure, conditional on the contractors doing extra work to safeguard the line whore it crosses the river and creek, which, by the way, it does no less than 57 times. This was found necessary, as in many instances after the pipe line) had been laid it was found that the pipes were practically exposed at these crossings, and in imminent danger of being swept away in time of flood, thus cutting off the supply for, perhaps, a very considerable time, -a fresh agreement was drawn up between the contracting parties, providing that these crossings should either be lowered 3 feet below the bed of the river, or else a substantial weir be erected across the river te protect them, such weir to bo four feet in width, bound together with No. 10 wire-netting, and that the pipes were to be covered by three feet of stones. In either case the pipes were toi be encased in concrete 6 inches in thickness, also where weirs were erected they were to run from ban'k to bank of flood channel, and below them was to be a -nude protecting bank or “apron” of stones, which were to be held in place by railway iron, braced and held in place in turn by upright pieces of iron driven into the solid papa- in the river or creek bed. It was chiefly with the; object of seeing how this work had been done that the visit of inspection yesterday was made. Many reasons have been given for the long delay in the completion of the con. tract. Wet weather considerably hampered the earlier operations, and, in addition, the soil formation was in many instances unsuitable, causing the line to “sag.” Then again, the river and creek, being repeatedly in flood, hindered the work at the crossings, and on several occasions “wash-outs” occurred. Inferior labor was also alleged by the contractors to be a contributing cause to the delay, but from whatever cause they have had a particularly trying time, and a member of the firm is stated to have told a Councillor recently that their loss to that date was well up to £IO,OOO. The first crossing inspected was one just a little on the town side of Mr C. J. Parker’s “Emerald Hills” homestead. The weir bad only been constructed across the ordinary watercourse, instead of from bank to bank of the flood channel; instead of railway iron for the apron supports, they consisted of manuka saplings, which in turn were supported by fin. piping, about 2ft. 6in. in length, driven into the rubble. The next crossing inspected was just at Mr C. J. Parker’s sheepyards. Here the conditions were prac. ideally the same, no iron work and insufficient length of weir, with 2-fin. manuka saplings supporting the stonework. Several other crossings in the vicinity were inspected with the same result. The next crossing viewed was the one just as the line leaves the main Arai river. This is a long crossing, with the pipes running diagonally across the river. The weir does not extend the required distance, and only half of the stonework is snnoorted by slender manuka saplings. The shortness of the weir was particularly noticeable here, as the water 1 was dribbling round one end of it. Several crossings were next inspected and it was found that they had been lowered, everything being apparently satisfactory. At the site known as Flood’s crossing further up it was found that the weir was out of order, part- of it being broken away, and all the way across the pipe was found to be close to the surface. Nothing appeared to have been done, and in some parts the concrete on the pipe was within 5 ofl 6 inches of the level of tho_ weir. The crossing below Mr Jas. "Wilson’s place was next visited, and here similar conditions prevailed. The depth of the pipe was tested and it was found that there was only S inches of stones over the concrete instead of 3 feet. _Tlie party next turned off into the tributary which affords the supply. The majority of the weirs examined were found to be in a rather unsatisfactory state. In several instances tawa saplings were in use to support the stonework, and in others! nothing had apparently been done to replace t-lie damaged work. On one crossing there was no attempt at covering at all, the bare concrete being exposed, and at another, where, it liad been stilted the pipe was 5 feet) below the surface, it was found to be only at a depth of 13 inches. This was regarded as being a particularly bad crossing. The party also inspected the two break-pressure tanks. These are massive structures of concrete, holding 'SOOO gallons, and at the second one in particular the abundance of the supply of water was most noticeable, as after the 15-incli mine had .been supplied vto its capabilities, there was an overflow from the tank, a volume of water four inches deep and two feet wide running to waste. It was point-

ed out that at the hour the tank was visited (11 a.m), the heaviest demand was being made on the water in town, and the possibilities of using the overflow for the generation of electricity were considered to be favorable. The extreme headwords were next visited, where the beautifully clear and pure water being drawn into the pipes was much admired. , The water is dammed by a solid concrete wall, and the water is drawn into a tank through gratings.. Owing to the volume of water in flood time silting up this dam, some slight alterations will be necessary, but the details have notbeen decided upon. A little further up the creek a solid stone embankment has just been completed, with the object of blocking debris and trapping the silt, leaves, etc., thus relieving the dam lower down. The party proceeded still further up the creek to ascertain what further steps could be taken to minimise the amount of driftwood and leaves coming down.. It was agreed that the man. in charge there should collect all the rubbish in the bed of the creek and burn it, also that the trees which overhang the creek and shed their leaves be cut down and destroyed, leaving only the evergreen trees. It was decided to do this work for the extent of half-a-.mile or so. The opinion, freely expressed by the members of the party was that the only absolutely safe method of negotiating the many crossings was to have the pipes lowered, and residents of the locality gave it as their opinion that there was endless trouble ahead for the Council with the weirs, which they claimed could not resist, for long, the power of the flood waters. After the inspection was over, a meeting was held, and it was unanimously decided that a telegram be sent to Mr. Robert Hay, informing him that the contract has not been completed according to specifications, and that there are a number of iverious defects in toe work which must be putright before the contract can be passed; also that Mr. Hay return to Gisborne immediately so that the defects in the work seen by the Council may be considered, and provision made for putting them right. Questioned as to the general position of the Council in the matter, the Mayor said to a “Times” representative that he would 'prefer, at present, not to state publicly why the whole matter had not been completed before this time, as the position was a critical one between the Council, the engineer, and the contractors. He, however, agreed with all the other Councillors present that- the work had not been done to specifications, and he was certain that if the Council do take over the work as it stands at_ present, it will be a most expensive thing to maintain. and ihat the Council will have to do a lot of work which undoubtedly should be carried cut by the contractors. “It would only be a question of time.” concluded His "Worship, “when, the Council would have to lower all the crossings.”