The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-10-18
THE STORAGE OF WATER.

A CONSIDERABLE
enjoys an abundant supply of rain
more in some places than is good for
human comfort. A far larger area, how
ever, suffers from a more or less arid
climate, where streams do not abound,
and rain is only an occasional visitor.
In many parts of this dry country the
soil is as fertile as anywhere in the
islands, all that is wanted to make it
abundantly productive is the blessing of
rain. Even there if all the rain that
falls yearly could be utilized there would
be, practically, no lack OF water. BY far
the larger part of the rain supply is
utterly lost. In many places it sinks at
once through porous soils to depths
which render it unavailable for the sus-
tenance of surface vegetation. Where
the soil is hard and tenacious it runs off
the surface rapidly into natural channels
and so finds its way to the sea without
comforting the benefits which it is capa-
bic of producing.
In other countries where similar con-
mortal, taken in hand to remedy them
by storing the gifts Of the clouds when
they fall copiously on the land and util-
izing the supply thus secured by means
of irrigation works. Some of the grand
| est engineering works Of ancient times,
| works which are the wonder still OF the
| experts of our own generation, were
undertaken with this object. By re-
storing some of these ancient works in
| India the British masters of that country
have of late restored vast areas which
had been deserted by their populations
into lands Of abundance, from wilder
| nesses into green and fertile fields, sup
porting on comfort the population of
hundreds of villages. What has been
done in those countries can be repeated
in the dry regions of these islands. The
trouble is that no one seems to recOg-
nize the fact that it would pay. The
objection too which modern theories of
government raise to the undertaking of
any work which private enterprise is
capable of making profit by stands in
the way. All successful works of this
kind have been undertaken by govern
ments-often by despotic sovereigns who
Illuminated their reigns more by these
benefcent works than by the deeds of
prowess and conquest in which they
probably took greater pride. The sys-
tenn of land tenure which we have i'm
ported from modern Europe also stands
greatly in the way of such works being
undertaken by government. All diff
culties would, however, vanish if it once
took firm and close hold of the public
mind, that the storage of water in our
dry regions would be one of the most
lucrative investments that capital, whe-
Their private or national, can be put into.
Even in the driest of the habitable
regions of this group enough rain falls
annually on the roof of each dwelling to
supply all the needs of those who live
under it and leave quite large surplus
for other purposes. With this fact in
view it is surprising to hear of water for
household purposes being carried long
distances. Yet this is actually daily
occurrence in scores OF places on these
islands When we add to that of the
roofs of dwelling houses the rain-catch-
ing power of all buildings used by man
for himself, his domestic animals, his
trade and his manufactures, and note
how the water that might thus be caught
and stored even in our dry areas is al
lowed to run uselessly away, we have a
right to say that here is huge waste of
one of natures most precious gifts. And
when we see, as any day may be seen in
many places, laborious and costly trans
portations of water resorted to whilst
this supply, thus ready to hand, is al
lowed to run to waste, we cannot refrain
from moralizing on the shortsightedness
OF mortals, who, even when their own
interests are so deeply concerned, cannot
see beyond the ends of their noses.