He's Helping Islanders Solve

Their Water Problems

From W. H. PERCIVAL, in Rarotonga One of the major handicaps to agricultural development in the southern islands of the Cook group is the inadequate water supply.

IN the Legislative Assembly last December, a Member for Aitutaki, Mr. Matai Simiona, said that Aitutaki “was a dry island” and that agricultural production had suffered because of lack of water.

An increased water supply on Aitutaki is certainly necessary if the Banana Replanting Scheme, to be carried out there at the cost of £53,000, is to be successful.

In another southern island, Atiu, where coffee is being grown as an export crop, modern processing machinery and factory equipment is ready to be installed —but the factory cannot be built until a site with a water supply can be found.

In Mangaia, some of the pineapple growers are bitter about losses due to their fruit ripening before it can be uplifted to the fruit juicing factory in Rarotonga. The pineapples have to be delivered to the Rarotongan factory in a half-ripe condition, and the growers feel that if a small fruit juicing factory could be established on Mangaia their losses would be avoided.

Again, the chief objection raised against the establishment of such a factory is the lack of an adequate supply of water.

Three generations

So it was good news for a lot of people when in late March, Mr. D.

J. Gilberd, who is an expert on the practical side of obtaining good water supplies, arrived at Rarotonga. His grandfather founded a water en gineering firm in New Zealand, and his firm was the first to use a water drill in that country.

He is here to decide on the type of machinery required to drill water wells on some of the southern group islands.

He works from information supplied by previous water surveys and then decides whether to dig or drill for water.

Once he knows what type of machinery is required he has the habit of scouting around until he

locates it at the cheapest price. He will overhaul it if necessary.

Mr. Gilberd has already visited Aitutaki and Mangaia and he told us in Rarotonga that there is plenty of water available on both islands.

There should be enough for a fruit producing factory on Mangaia.

Aitutaki, he mentioned, was “very hard” and would require the use of diamond-tipped drills.

Water is dug for when the required depth of a well is between 20 and 30 ft, and sometimes when it is impossible or impracticable to get machinery ashore. Wells that have to reach depths of between 120 and 160 ft require machinery to bore them.

Success elsewhere

Mr. Gilberd carries out his water procuring activities for six months of the year, and spends the remaining six months working on his farm near Whangarei, on the northern finger of New Zealand’s North Island.

He has had considerable success at drilling for water on remote Pacific islands. Due to his initial efforts, 20 wells are now being drilled on Niue Island, and four in American Samoa.

He trained the Niue people in the use of the drilling rig and now they do all their own water drilling.

Cook Islanders, Mr. Gilberd told us, need educating in the treatment of drinking water. They should also be shown where to dig so as to obtain the best water available. Parents should be made aware that when their children swim in reservoirs they contaminate the water and render it unsuitable for human consumption— even if it does look clean.

Mr. Gilberd was due to leave Raro tonga by air in early April and plans to spend five months on Niue where he will continue his work on water supplies.

He will make recommendations to the Cook Islands Government on his findings at Aitutaki and Mangaia.