The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-09-25

To The Editor Of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser :
SIR-The last number of your paper contains an
article apparently editorial, on the subject of the
Water Supply " which so abounds in inaccuracies.
as to render a concise review of it Indispensable
The author of that article contends that the whole
supply of the city and suburbs can at the present
day be furnished by the spring, which, he says. is
only a few yards above the reservoir-its real posi-
ton being within the grounds occupied by the Min
lister of Finance, and certainly more than a quarter
of a mile above the reservoir. So much for the ac-
curacy of his knowledge of the matter ON which he
assumes to instruct others. lie says that the plenti-
full deposit of soil and sediment that we find in our
water containers every day \ r + r
might be avoided by using only the water from the
spring. | propose to demonstrate the fallacy Of this
position. The author seems to assume that the con-
dition and circumstances of the water demand and
supply, remain quite unchanged since the completion
of the reservoir fifteen years ago, and that because
as he asserts that stream alone suficed to supply
the entire demand for two years, (but which others
deny) that therefore it remains to this day equally
adequate for that service-manifestly quite uncon-.
scious of the great extent to which the late Super
intendent spread and extended the water supply in
every direction around the city and suburbs which
of course necessitates a greatly increased amount of
water to be constantly supplied. When the writer
Of that article insists in the face of that important
fact that that supply can still be furnished by the
spring alone, he must be as completely unaware of
its size and capacity, as I have proved him to be of
its real position. The largest amount of water ever
supplied by that spring is, and has been conveyed
to the reservoir in a fire inch pipe of course it can
only supply a fraction of the whole amount now
constantly required, and in the emergency of such
dry seasons as have frequently visited this locality.
and will in all probability renew their unwelome
visits, | am apprehensive that the combined sup
ply Of both the spring, and Kapena stream will
prove barely if at all adequate to the demand. 1t is
insinuated in that article-for it does not amount to
an open manly assertion-that the silt traps and
gates on the main pipe--if indeed the officers in
charge are aware of their existence-haye been and
are entirely overlooked by them, and that for the
whole period of fifteen years that has elapsed since
the work was completed. no one remembers of an
instance when the " silt traps -" have been drawn of
or the pipes rinsed out through the end gates; and
the only duty performed by the Seperintendents
being the (not quite trivial) one of collecting the
water rates. If that writer had been imbued with
a little more spirit of fair play he could readily have
learned from the employees at the water Office, who
alone are cognizant Of the fact, what the traps and
gates are regularly opened once at least in every
month, and the water allowed to flow through them
freely until quite clear Of pollution.
That the water at Kapeua which flows into the
reservoir is and must be more or less polluted so
long as it runs through an open drain in q cattle
pasture cannot be denied, nor can that nuisance be
abated until some effective measures are taken by
those who have the power to do so, to prevent or
remedy it. Most assuredly the Superintendent is
powerless to furnish any remedy, and it is unjust
and unfair to impeach him for what is manifestly
beyond his control. Yours Obediently,
HENRY PRENDERGAsT,
superintendent of Honolulu Water Works.