125 Years of Water Supply in

Invercargill

Introduction… #1

Introduction… #2

Introduction… #3

From Swamp to Salvation: 1856 – 1888

Invercargill Begins… In Dunedin!

Invercargill’s Founding Fathers

Colonel Sir Thomas Robert Gore

Browne

William Walter Cargill John Turnbull Thomson

Governor of New Zealand

Founder of the Provinceof Otago

Surveyor-General of New Zealand

From Small Beginnings…

…A Township Flourishes.

So Where Do We Find Water?

The Great Fire Season:1881-1884

Hang On A Minute… Where Are Those Steam Locos Getting Water From?

Nice Water Tower. Hmmm…

Invercargill Water Tower:

- 125 feet/38 metres high- Contains over 300,000

bricks- Roughly 11,000

bricks/metre- Holds 65,000

gallons/297m3- Has “Safety factor of

ten”

- Waterworks opened 19/9/1888

- Tower foundations 18/12/1888

- Completed Easter 1889

- Designed by William Sharp

- Tower by M. & H. Mair- Tank by W. Guthrie & Co.

- Tower cost £1497 7s 6d- Tank cost £1273

- Original cupola removed 1934

- Cupola replaced 1989- Closed to public 2012

The Stuff Of Nightmares:1889 - 1957

Where It All Starts To Go Wrong.

DWSNZ 2008 vs. The Bore Water

pH 7.0 – 8.5

TDS >600 mg/L (taste)

Iron (Fe) 0.2 mg/L

Manganese 0.04 mg/L

Chloride 250 mg/L

T. Hardness 200 mg/L

pH 5.5 – 5.9

TDS 165 – 1,080 mg/L

Iron (Fe) 1.1 – 27 mg/L

Manganese 0 – 0.33 mg/L

Chloride 39 – 370 mg/L

T. Hardness 48 – 314 mg/L Calcium 9.8 – 64 mg/L Magnesium 5.7 – 37.4 mg/L

More People Equals More Demand…

…Which Means More Bores. #1 – 1887 (1936), 19.2m,

1635m3/d #2 – 1910 #3 – 1913, 19.8m, 545m3/d #4 – 1918 #5 – 1920 #6 – 1927, 50.6m, 1145m3/d.

(435) #7 – 1939, 19.8m, 1525m3/d * #8 – 1941, 19.8m, 1635m3/d #9 – 1942, 25.3m, 2835m3/d #10 – 1920 (1943), 23.7m,

1525m3 #11 – 1937 (1941), 23.3m,

1525m3/d #12 – Unknown, 655m3/d

Battling On Two Fronts.

Bring On Basin #5.

All Out War Against Our Own Water.

Hey, You Can’t Say We Didn’t Try!

Meanwhile, A Few Miles Out Of Town At A Place

CalledBranxholme….

Another War Against Water Rages.

This Scene’s Changed Just A Tad…

Just Way Too Many Boiler Failures.

Branxholme vs. The Bore Water

pH 7.0

TDS 92 mg/L

Iron (Fe) 1.3 mg/L

(sampled in medium flood)

Chloride 10.4 mg/L

T. Hardness <10 mg/L Calcium 6.2 mg/L Magnesium 2.2 mg/L

pH 5.5 – 5.9

TDS 165 – 1,080 mg/L

Iron (Fe) 1.1 – 27 mg/L

Manganese 0 – 0.33 mg/L

Chloride 39 – 370 mg/L

T. Hardness 48 – 314 mg/L Calcium 9.8 – 64 mg/L Magnesium 5.7 – 37.4 mg/L

Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?

N.Z.G.R. vs The City of Invercargill.

Can’t continue with town water with wartime supply issues

Wants to develop own supply from the Oreti River

Wants the City of Invercargill to get a move on if they are serious about a supply from Branxholme

Finally issues ultimatum: either you build it or we will, and leave you high and dry in the process…

Preferred future water supply is still the Dunsdale Stream

Wants to supplement current supply from the Oreti River

Continues to dither about with alternative sources and trialling better treatment of bore water

Asks Railways to help build and develop Branxholme Water Supply to Invercargill…

The Branxholme Era:1958 - 2013

In The Beginning…

The Darkest Day – 20/1/1959

We Finally Get Real Water Treatment!

Accelator Sludge Recirculating Clarifier:

90 feet wide, 15 feet deep. 8 million gallons per day. Opened 10/12/1970

Greenleaf Filters:

Two banks of four filters. Each filter 400ft2 218m3/h, or ~41,000m3/d

And Then Even More Capacity… Sort Of.

Portals Flat-Bottomed Clarifier:

27m x 12m x 5.5m (1782m3).

8 million gallons per day. Opened 16/11/1983.

Portals Filters:

Four filters. Each filter 27m2. 187m3/h or ~18,000m3/d.

The Tenuous Link To Town.

The Circulars.

The Supply That Never Was.

125 Years of Water Supply in Invercargill.

The End?

Thanks For The Assistance: Paul Markholm (aka Steampig), John Agnew, Weston Langford,

Tony Batchelor, David Donaldson and Shane McDowall for all their photos, input and archives.

Archives New Zealand (Dunedin and Wellington) and The National Library of New Zealand who came up with all the juicy files from the dark past and the aerial photos of old Invercargill.

Joe Wilson, Nick Knight and Adrian Cocker who helped where they could with references, knowledge and support (and time to do it all!)

Everyone else whose photos, ideas and rumours I’ve either outright stolen or plagiarised to make this presentation happen….