HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING IN NEW SOUTU WALES. 631 



WATER SUPPLY OF THE TOWNS OF MAITLAND, MORPETH, NEWCASTLE, 

 AND THE MINING DISTRICTS. 



The scheme for the supply of the above-named towns was 

 developed in a Report prepared by Mr. W. Clark, in 1877, and 

 consists of pumping the water from the River Hunter at a point 

 called Bolwarra, or Dickson's Falls, into a storage reservoir, situated 

 between the river and the Walka Lagoon, from thence it flows into 

 filter beds, and eventually, after passing through them, is received 

 into a clear water tank. From this tank the engines take the water 

 and force it up to a reservoir situated on the Butti Hill, a distance 

 of five miles, containing one million gallons. On the passage a 

 part of the water is diverted by a branch pipe two and three- 

 quarter miles long to a reservoir at East Maitland, capable of 

 holding five hundred thousand gallons, for the supply of East and 

 West Maitland, and Morpeth, from which latter place the distance 

 is two miles The level of the Butti Reservoir is two hundred and 

 sixty-five feet above high water, and it commands the entire route 

 of the pipe extending through the mining townships to Newcastle, 

 where it is received in a reservoir at a level of one hundred and 

 fifty-nine feet above high water, which commands all the levels 

 below. Reservoirs are also provided for the supply of the various 

 mining townships. 



OTHER TOWNS SUPPLIED WITH WATER. 



The system of supplying Bathurst, Goulburn, Wagga Wagga, 

 Bourke, and Albury, consists of pumping the water from the river 

 running near the town in question to a reservoir situated at a level 

 sufliciently high to command the whole of the town. At Wagga 

 Wagga and Albury the capacity of the reservoirs are being 

 increased. The foregoing works on water supply have been con- 

 structed under the supervision of Mr. Moriarty, Engineer-in- 

 Chief for Harljonrs and Rivers, (fee. The author is indebted to 

 Mr. T. Keil, M. Inst. C.E., for particulars of the Sydney Water 

 Supply Works. 



CONSERVATION OF WATER. 



This paper, being a history of works executed in the colony, 

 only a brief notice can be given of the various important works 

 which have been proposed from time time, and which may be 

 carried out in the future. The exhaustive report of the Royal 

 Commission on the Conservation of Water will, therefore, be 

 only briefly referred to. This Commission was appointed on May 

 10th, 1884, "to inquire into the best methods of conserving the 

 i-ainfall, and for searching for, and developing the underground 

 reservoirs supposed to exist in the interior of the colony ; and 

 also into the practicability, by a general system of water conser- 

 vation and distribution, of averting the disastrous consequences 



