46 T. H. HOUGHTON. 



Water Supply. 

 A plentiful supply of potable water is one of tlie neces- 

 sities of life, and as settlement increased, became one of the 

 most pressing problems of the State. In 1891 the require- 

 ments of only the larger towns of the State had received 

 attention, but the growth of population, the increase in the 

 standard of living, and above all the necessity for better 

 sanitation, have been the cause of a large extension of 

 public water supplies within the past twenty-five years. 



The Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 

 which was passed in 1880, and enabled the Government to 

 carry out works for country municipalities, has been taken 

 advantage of by fifty-five municipalities not including 

 Sydney, Newcastle, and Broken Hill. Of these, the works 

 of eight of the larger towns had been constructed prior to 

 1891, but have since that date been considerably extended. 



The total expenditure on these works has been £1,201,547, 

 of which £258,630 was expended prior to 1891. 



The population of the eight country municipalities with 

 water supplies constructed prior to 1891, was in 1890,43,328 

 and in 1914, 55,750, an increase of only 1*2% per annum. 



The water supply of Sydney and the surrounding suburbs 

 was in 1891 only in process of development. From very 

 early days it had been a problem always facing those 

 responsible for the welfare of the State, and soon after a 

 new scheme or extension was completed, the need for an 

 additional supply arose. 



In 1891 the storage capacity available to tide the city 

 over droughts was limited to that at Prospect Reservoir, 

 which when full covers 1,261 acres, and holds 10,812,313,000 

 gallons. In order to maintain the supply in Sydney and 

 the surrounding suburbs, service reservoirs had been built 

 in the various districts at such elevations as were necessary, 



