Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-04-26
mot JUSTIFIED IN PUT1INGMORE
WATER into NUUANU SYSTEM now

continue to furnish water for potable
purposes after written notice from the
territorial board Of health that the wa.
ter, the source of supply or system OF
distribution Is not free from contain
nation or pollution, and that the wa.
ter is In the opinion Of the board of
health unsuitable for potable purposes
and dangerous to public health"
That is the reply of Murray to the
criticism of the Board of Health AMI
other, authorities that Nuuanu water
Is unsafe and unfit for human con-
sumption. why doesn't the board
condem it, them" he demands. They
have the power. All that would be
necessary would be the scratch of a
pen and it would be shut off. Reports
they made to the loan fund commits
sion yesterday declare that 1t is only
luck that has prevented a typhoid or
cholera epidemic. If the water is as
bar as that why doesn't the board stop
its use?
Murray declares that the loan fund
commission has gone off on tangent,
that ii has missed the issue altogether
in its excitement over the question of
the sanitary condition of the reservoir.
The whole purpose of the proposed
diversion of water from Hillebrand
glen into No. reservoir is to furnish
more power for the electric light plant
and cut down the use of OIL he de-
clared. We proposed to put the wa
ter In the mains, ii is true, as 1t was
presumed from the evidence of sani-
tary engineers that putting more wa
ter in the reservoir would make it
better than it is now. But if necessary
the water can be run out into Nuuanu
stream after it has been used for pow
er. 1t doesn't have to be put into res
eryoir No. and run into the mains. :"
Use of the water from Hillebrand
glen would save the city at least $4,000
year in oil bills and the while ex-
penditure of $4,000 for the Hillebrand
project would be repaid in five years,
Murray declares.
Il can't get the point Of view of the
opposition or of the loan fund COM
mission" he said this morning during
q talk on the proceedings yesterday.
New York city gets its water from a
watershed that $4,000 people live on.
Railroad tracks run on II, there are
farms on It. II is true it isn't good,
but the typhoid rate in New York is
not high. All the authorities / have
read declare that typhoid and other
water-born disease germs viii not live
more tnan few hours in cold water,
that the longer the water stands the
less danger there is of contamination,
That means that the more water we
put into No. reservoir the less dan
ger there i. from it. The water has
been used here for years and Homo
lulu has a remarkably low death rate
from water-born diseases. No one was
excited over the danger from the sur
face water until opposition to this
project sprang up and 1t was neces-
sary to find something to base it on
q. X. harrison. government hydro
grapher, says that of the mainland
cities with whose water supply he is
acquainted are not getting as good
water as comes from Nuuanu. Soon
er or later Honolulu will have to use
that water. Its growth will make its
use mandatory" he says. "The more
water there is in reservoir the bet
ter 1t is. All water from which there
is possibility OF contamination, no
matter IL the chance is but one in ten
million, Is insanitary. The best way
to make the surface water better is to
put more water in it."
He faFors filtration plant but the
governor doesn't at this time.