84 On tJie Botany Watershed. 



January, February, and March, as to obviate the necessity of 

 shutting the water off the town at night, and discontinuing 

 street watering, as had been done from 1864 to 1868, for some 

 weeks in each year. It is true that this quantity of 174 

 millions would not have enabled us to give a full supply for 

 more than three weeks longer, if rain had not fallen when it 

 did ; hence the necessity for more storage accommodation, which 

 should be increased in the watershed, and provided in the 

 neighbourhood of the city. If we had had more dams on the 

 stream, and a large storage reservoir near the town last year, 

 we might have been in a position to supply the city and the 

 suburbs for a period of twelve months longer, at the least, 

 without any rainfall during that time. Therefore, in addition to 

 the dam which I propose to construct at the Lachlan Swamp, 

 and which will serve to give a full supj)ly to the tunnel, it is 

 necessary we should have more dams across the stream than 

 we have now, in order to retain more water and keep the engines 

 fully supplied. That the pumping-power should be increased at 

 Botany, in order that all the water which the dams will not hold 

 back may be pumped in during the wet season, and that a large 

 storage reservoir should be constructed at the Cemetery Eeserve 

 near the city, with a capacity equal to 600 millions of gallons, 

 into which the engines may deliver all their water over and 

 above the quantity supplied to the city and suburbs, to be held 

 in reservoir for all cases of emergency, and for the supply of the 

 highest levels of the town as projected by me, and published in 

 the Sydney Morning Herald of March 8th, 1869. The Crown- 

 street reservoir contains 3^ millions gallons ; the high level 

 reservoir contains 1\ millions gallons ; the five dams now in use 

 retain 174 millions gallons ; these five dams may be increased 

 166 millions gallons ; seven more may be made to retain 392 

 millions gallons ; the Lachlan Dam 473 millions gallons ; the 

 Long Swamp, 400 millions gallons ; the Cemetery reservoir, 600 

 millions gallons : total, 2209f millions gallons. By these means 

 the holding capacity of the dams and reservoirs may be extended 

 from 178|- millions to 2209|- millions of gallons. This quantity 

 of storage room above the dams, south of the Lachlan dam, 

 may at any time be very considerably increased by excavating 

 the sand at the margins of the ponds to the same depths as 

 their centres. The features of the watershed are exceedingly 

 favourable for the extension of the several ponds above the 

 dams ; so much so that the removal of every yard of sand will 

 accommodate 160 gallons of water at the least ; and when it is 

 considered that the sand may be removed for 5d. per cubic yai'd, 

 the expense could not be deemed important. It will be seen 

 that the Water Commission in making their calculations with 

 regard to the capabilities of the Botany watershed has drawn 



