The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-22
WATER IS SCARCE
Too Much Irrigating Of Lawns and
Gardens.
PUMPS RUNNING NIGHT AND DAY
More Water Being Drawn from
Nuuanu Reservoirs Than
Flowing In.
PUMPS RUNNING NIGHT AND DAY


alarmist,' said Captain J. w Pratt
yesterday, 'but if anything should hap
pen to the Beretania street pumps just
about this time there would be a wa
ter famine in Honolulu"
THE condition of affairs is just
this" continued the man who is in
charge of the Water Works Bureau
during the absence of Superintendent
Andrew Brown, the city is being sup
piled with water almost entirely from
the Beretania street station. The
pumps there are supposed to have a
capacity of 100000 gallons per day of
twenty-four hours, but we are now
pumping every day in the week three
and a half million gallons or nearly
One-half more water than the normal
capacity of the pumps. Of course, the
fact that the water comes from flowing
wells assists the pumps, as the water
is really only pushed along instead of
being lifted bodily. We have to keep
three shifts of engineers now, each
working eight hours at a stretch, and
the pumps never stop.
s''The Makiki pumps run all day
steadily, but close down at night as
soon as the reservoir fills up.
Cup the valley the reservoirs are in
bad way. There are just 1,400, 600
gallons per day running over the weir,
Tn
but, unfortunately, we are drawing out
every day more than is running in, and
the reservoirs keep getting lower If
we do not have rain very shortly we
shall have to turn the water from the
weir directly into the mains. which
means shutting off the electric lights
in the streets. There is big loss of
water at the reservoirs from evapora-
tiOn alone, which would be partially
stopped by this means.
IF people would only stop and think
a little while, l am satisfied they would
be more careful in using water In ad-
dition to the big increase of population
in the city, there have been a large
number of houses built the last few
months. Now we can prove by data
in the Office that new residences use
three or four times as much water the
first year that they do afterwards. The
reason is a simple One;. the owners
plant trees, shrubbery and grass and
use all the water they can to get things
started.
Another thing that may surprise
some of your readers is that the people
of Honolulu use more water per capita
than in any city of the United States.
We can prove this assertion by statis
tics any time you want them.
''Then again, the transports require
a lot of water. No charge is made for
the water they require. consequently
before leaving they fill up everything
on board that will hold water, and
some of them can carry an awful lot.
All we ask of the people, said Cap
tain Pratt, in conclusion, lis that they
will not waste any water until it rains.
After the summer rains commence we
shall not care how much water is used,
but in the meantime it is as we'll that
everybody should understand that our
water supply depends entirely on the
Beretania street pumps keeping up
with the present strain
Since the above was in type a tele-
phone message from the Government
Electric Light Station at II o'clock last
jpb stated a of an