VICTORIA. VICTORIAN vV ATEil SUPPijY. FillST _._t\~NNUAL GI~NEllAL R,EPOJ1T BY THE SECRETARY IOR 1\IINES AND \VATEH SUl>PLY. PHESENTED TU BOTH HOUSES OF PAIU,IA:MENT BY ill::> EXCELLENCY'::; COMMAND. lil!! autbot:i1!1: ROBT. S. BR.A.I:i, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE. No. 85,-1660. REPORT. Department of .Mines and 'Vater Supply, .Melbourne, August, 1887. The llonorable the ~Minister if PVate1· Supply. Sm, In suhmitting this fir~t General Report upon the operations of the Victorian 'Vater Supply Department, and upon the admiuistration of schemes of water supply that have been carried out hy corporate hodics hy means of Government loans, it will only be necessary to refer very briefly to operntioni-4 prior to the date of the appointment of the Royal Commission on "Water Supply 188,1. The inquiries made hy the Commis:-;ion 'Were of such a nature as to place its members in possession of all the material filets re]nting to the question of water supply within the colony; and the exhnustive and widely-circulated reports gave ample publicity both to the Commission's recom­ mendations and to the evidence on which thev were based. 'Vhat has been done since the issue of these reports will be dealt \Vith u;ore in detail; thoug,h, as the time elapsed is brief~ the active labours of the Commission having been suspended little more than a year ngo, the results necessarily seem small when viewed in compari:-;on with the mass of work necomplished prior to that date. 2. The natural order of seq ncnce incident to this mode of treating the subject will he to deal, in the first place, with those systems of works administered directly by the Department. The general results of the schemes carried out hy either municipal bodies or Trusts, in pursuance of special legislation, will next be given in the order in 'Which the empowering enactments were passed. Finally, the various measure8 adopted hy this lJepartment to carry out the duties imposed upon it by law, or to give effect to your specia1 instructions, will he briefly described. VICTORIAN vVATER SUPPLY 'VORKS. I.-CouBAN ScHEME. 3. lJpon this scheme are dependent for their d01nestic water supplies the city of Sandhurst, and the towns of Taradale, Chewton, Castlemaine, Fryers, :Maldon, Eagle­ hawk, Hnntly, Sebastian, and Raywood. It also provides water for mining purposes throughout the Cat'ltlenmine and Sandhurst districts, and to a limited extent for the irrigation of orchards and other highly cultivated lands. 4. The principal source of supply is the Coli ban River, the water heing impounded in the Malmslmry reservoir (whieh has a capaeity of 2,908,600,000 gallon::;); it is thence sent down the main channel, and distributed into the several hrancbes and local storage basins, whenee it is delivered throughout the urban areas by means of pipe retieulations. For mining and irrigation the water is delivered ft·om the open channels. The ordinary daily supply sent down from the reservoir is ten millions of gallons, of which about three millions are consumed from the pipes for domestic use, for the supply of engines and batteries, and for manuHtcturing. Of the remainder, probably about one million g·nllons are lo:-;t by evaporation and absorption ; the remaining six millions are sold fi·om the channels. · ;). Th(• eost of the works comprised in the seheme, to date, has been £1,052,318; and thl' gross anmml revenue t(n· thl' finaneinl yeal' emling th(• iHJth Juue lust was £:21))907, Deducting· from this latter amount the ;,;um of £8,6tHi, tlw yt.:>ar's ('X· penditure upon maintenance and snpervisiou, the uet reveuue retumed was £12,221, or 1·16 per Cl'llt. upon the capital outlay. The interest upon capital, at the rate of 4~ per eeut. per annum, would equal £47,;);)4; thn8, the net revenue is les::; than the A 2 4 annual interest charge to the extent of £35,133. In view of this result, the opinion of the Chief Engineer of Water Supply, as expressed in a recent report on these works, cannot be too strongly endortsed. Mr. J\Iurray says-" The financial condition of the scheme furnishes a strong· argument for the exercise of the most rigid economy, the fostering of every possible source of permanent revenue, and the closest scrutiny of all proposals for further extensions involving additions to the capital account." Appendix 1 is a statement of the revenue derived from the scheme during the last four years, as compared with the capital cost. 6. Against the heavy direct loss shown by this statement, the counter­ balancing advantages of a satisfactory supply of water to a large mining and industrial population must be considereq. It is no exaggeration to say that, without the Coliban, or some other system of waterworks involving a similarly large outlay, the resourees of the Sandhurst and Castlemaine districts could not have heen developed, nor their industries maintained. A recent revision of the bye-laws wiU, it is hoped, aid in eventually bringing the revenue into a condition more eommensurate with the heavy outlay on the works. 7. During the past year an extension of the supply to Raywood and Sebastian has been completed, at a cost of about £13,000. The works consist of open channelling, with service basins and pipe reticulations. A channel supply, for irrigation, and for the domestic and stock use of the agricultural settlers in the Loclnvood and Marong dis­ triets, has just been undertaken, at an estimated cost of £4,000 ; aml a pipe supply to Specimen Gully, near Castlemaine, at a cost of £600. In respeet of these extensions the municipal corporations interested have guaranteed a revenue of 6 per cent. upon the cost. An extension, for mining purposes, to Campbell's Creek, in the Castlemaine district, has also just been completed, at a cost of £1,900. 8. Surveys have been made, and engineering reports obtained, in connexion with proposed extensions to the Emu and Sheepwash Creeks, and to the heads of Sandy, Yankee, and Five-mile Creeks, in the Shire of Strathfieldsaye. A proposed extension for the supply of Harcourt and Barker's Creek has also been surveyed. These new works are intended prineipally to supply water for irrigation and for the use of the rural settlers. Had satisfactory gnarantees in respect of interest on the estimated outlay been offered by the Local Governing Bodies, steps would have been taken by the Department to carry the schemes into efi'ect at once. The local councils have not, so far, seen their way to eomply with this requirement, and they are, therefore, held in abeyance. But the property owners in some of these localities arc now taking steps to have Trusts created under The Irrigation Act 188(), to enable them to carry out the work for themselves. 9. Owing to the silted state of portions of the channels, and the necessity for extensive renewals of fluming, the maintenance charges for the year 1886-7, as compared with those for 1885-6, have been heavy. The capital cost of the scheme has also heen increased during the past two years lJy the large outlay ( £21,000) upon an additional main that was found necessary for the proper supply of the higher levels of Sandhurst. Unfortunately, this work, although urgently needed, commanded no new sources of revenue; while it has loaded the capital account with a further substantial debit, and has helped to increase the ratio of capital to income, notwithstanding the increase of gross revenue. 10. During the current year, it is intended to carry out improvements to the Maims­ bury reservoir, by means of which the storage capacity of this work will he practically increased to 3,225 millions of gallons. A tender for the alterations, amounting to £7,052, has been accepted, and operations l1ave been commenced. II.-GEELONG ScHEME. 11. The storage works and bases of supply of this scheme are the Upper and Lower Stony Creek reservoirs, which have an aggregate capacity of 497,000,000 gallons. From these the water is conveyed a distance of about twenty miles, by a line of open aqueduct and cast-iron main, to the Lovely Banks service reservoir and settling ponds, about eight miles from Geelong. This service basin is at a height of 260 feet above sea-level, which elevation gives a fair pressure for the supply, by pipe reticulation, of the lower portions of the town. The higher levels are less efficiently served by a small basin at Newtown, fed from the Lovely Banks main. To supplement the supply to the upper storage reservoir, which has a very circumscribed and level C'atchment area, n concrete weir has heen erected upon the eastern branch of the .Moorahool Hiv<:'r, and a line of 12-inch enrthemnu·c· pipes laid thence to tl1e reservoir, a ui:;;tnnce of I H rniles. These pipes bring in, while the :Jfoorahool Hiver i:s flowing­ about C'ig-ltt months in each year-half n inillion gallons per 24 hours. 12. Up to dnte, the scheme has eost £360,000. The gross revc•1me for the last financial year arnonnted to £i,R50, ii·om whieh has to be dednded the yenr's expenditure upon maintenance and supervision, viz., £2,370, leaving n uet revenue of £5,480, or slightly over 1 ~- per cc•ut. upon the outlay. At the rate of per cent., the annual dmrge f(n· interest upon enpital cost would amount to £16,200, the differ­ enee hetween which and the net reYenue shown ahove leaves a direct loss of £I 0,720 per annum.