Construction of Auckland City Waterworks, Western Springs.

http://www.engineersnz.co.nz/heritage/printfriendly2.cfm?item=156

With the need to develop a safe reliable water supply reaching crisis point, early Auckland City fathers, after a decade of procrastination and 13 consultant reports, [The more things change, the more they stay the same. DCW] finally decided to develop the source of supply known as the Western Springs in 1874. Things then moved quickly. By May they engaged an Engineer, William Errington, to prepare plans for the complete scheme, including Beam Engine, Engine House, Impoundment Lake, Service and Main Reservoirs, and the complete reticulation system. They also set about raising a £100,000 loan immediately.

Errington wasted no time in getting down to the task in early May 1874 and by July 1874 he had completed plans and specifications sufficient for Tender purposes. He used his engineering and drafting skills to produce extremely detailed designs for; the Beam Engine, Engine House, Engine Pond, Boilers and Boiler House, the Western Springs impoundment (now Western Springs Lake), the Main Reservoir (Ponsonby), the Service Reservoir (Khyber Pass) the Valve House, Pipes, Valves, pipelines and a tramway to feed coal to the furnaces – no mean feat.

Tenders were called in Australia and New Zealand in October 1874 and the necessary property purchases completed by February 1875. Tenders for Plant and Works finally closed on March 22 1875. Eight tenders were received ranging in price from 75,663 pounds to 94,672 pounds. The tender submitted by T & S Morrin,was accepted.

T & S Morrin Ltd was operated by one of Auckland’s leading businessmen who was also a well known land developer and horse breeder. The firm had the necessary expertise to organise the manufacture and importation of the necessary equipment as designed. John Goodall C.E. was employed as their ‘engineering advisor’ and a Mr. Blewdon as the main subcontractor.

Work began immediately on the Western Springs scheme which was the largest civil engineering project under construction in the Auckland region. It involved not just the construction of the impressive brick engine house and the installation of the Steam Engine and Pumps, but also the construction of concrete reservoirs at Ponsonby and Khyber Pass. The Engine House, Chimney and Pumphouse were built to Errington’s specifications by local bricklayers who sub-contracted to T & S Morrin. Work on these buildings proceeded throughout 1875 and they were largely complete by 1876 when the engine and boilers began to be installed. The double compound condensing steam engine, pumps and four “Lancashire” boilers were manufactured at John Key & Sons “Whitebank Foundry” Kirkcaldy, Scotland, a large firm that employed seven hundred staff. On arrival in Auckland the machinery was transported to Western Springs where it was assembled, under the supervision of John Goodall and William Errington, by an Auckland engineering firm Masefield & Co.

The pump/engine combination was a rotative beam engine of the Woolfe compound type comprising 2 paris of low and high pressure cylinders, each pair driving a beam. Both beams were connected to the 20 feet 6 inch diameter flywheel which weighed 16 tons. Steam was supplied by four Lancashire type boilers providing steam at 60p.s.i. These were rated at 40h.p. with normally three in use at one time (coal consumption was a maximum of 5 tons/day.) The engines were rated at a nominal 150h.p.

There was a pump attached to each beam. These were a simple piston type. They had a four foot stroke and raised the water 235 feet through a 21 inch cast iron rising main to the Ponsonby (Main) Reservoir and a further 85 ft by a 12 inch main to the Service Reservoir when required. The pumps sucked from a 25 feet deep well connected to the impounded spring water by tunnel. The beams also had pumps attached on the engine side which provided the vacuum for the condensers and the boiler feed water. The flywheel drove a crankshaft which was connected by layshafts to the steam chests which operated the inlet and exhaust valves and were controlled by the governor.

The resultant steam driven Beam Engine Pumps, and Pumphouse, are fine examples of Victorian Engineering, and remain on site today to form the nucleus of Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology.

William Errington (1832-1894) born in South Shields, County Durham, England, had trained as an engineer and draughtsman in the large British Engineering firm of Richardson & Co where he acquired the skills that were to make him eminently suited to the Western Springs position. The building and machinery for which he was responsible stand as a monument to his great skill in two disciplines, as an architect and engineer. He had emigrated to Australia in 1854 where he worked as a mining engineer in Ballarat specialising in the design and construction of large scale steam pumping plants. Also he became involved with a large Ballarat iron foundry. The Lady Barkly, one of Australia’s first locomotives was built under his supervision. From there he had come to New Zealand to install the so called “Big Pump” on the Thames Goldfield and remained there for several years. He also designed a “graving dock” for the Auckland Harbour Board and later was responsible for the design and construction of Calliope Dock, then the largest “dry dock” in the Southern Hemisphere and which is still in operation.

The largest single part of the project, in terms of time and manpower, was the construction of the main “Western Springs Reservoir” or in engineering terms the “impoundment”. Prior to 1875 the Western Springs were in their natural state. Two large springs were located on the eastern edge of the main Mount Eden-Mount Albert lava flow which extends into the Waitemata Harbour (Meola Reef). The water flowed into an extensive swamp on the site of what is now known as Western Springs Lake. The entire swamp was excavated using horse scoop and shovel under the supervision of Mr. J. Blewdon, a city contractor. A three hundred yard long embankment was constructed along the eastern edge of the swamp creating a 15 acre (6ha) artificial lake 6 feet in depth and capable of holding 22 million gallons of water. The scale of this back-breaking work is revealed by the fact that Mr. Blewdon and his men removed 20,000 cartloads of spoil from the site and used 7,850 cubic yards of earth to construct the embankment which was 40 feet wide at the base and 9 feet wide at the crest. They also excavated the 25 feet deep Engine Pond and dug a 60 foot long tunnel between the lake and the Engine House.

Throughout 1875 and 1876 work proceeded on the Main Ponsonby Reservoir and the Khyber Pass Reservoir, both constructed in concrete to the design of Errington. By late 1876 the main pipeline from the Western Springs to the main and service reservoirs had been laid and service mains were being laid throughout the city.

By 1877 Branston and Forster, a leading Auckland plumbing and gasfitting firm, were advertising that they were prepared to connect private homes and businesses to the service mains. They would also install hot water apparatus, baths, and “water closets” on the “most reasonable terms.”

By early 1877 all mains and service pipes were tested under pressure and some faulty sections were replaced. By mid May, the reservoirs were full and all construction was complete, however Errington continued his thorough testing programme until early July when all was to his satisfaction.

Finally on the 10th July 1877 the Western Springs Water Works were formally opened in a small ceremony attended by the Contractors, the Mayor and the City Council. The City of Auckland at last had a supply of pressurised reticulated water that encouraged the residential and commercial growth it experienced in the last two decades of the 19th century to proceed and the City to become a major urban centre.

The day to day operation of the new works was in the hands of the “Engineer in Charge” who carried out mechanical maintenance. His assistant was the Fireman who lit the furnaces, got up steam and generally worked on the machinery and buildings. By 1879 two cottages had been built for the Engineer and Fireman and are still on site as part of the Museum of Transport & Technology’s Victorian Village. The following year, 1880, another Fireman was appointed and housed on site. The Main and Service Reservoirs were operated and maintained by a Turncock and an Assistant Turncock.

Coal was supplied from Hikurangi mines in North Auckland, shipped to the City and transported by cart over what was, and still is, called the Bullock Track.

Despite an initial reluctance by ratepayers and consumers to the cost of installation of connections and the water rate, the demand for the service grew rapidly with a progressive reduction in costs to the ratepayer. The City also became a bulk supplier to neighbouring boroughs. Water consumption increased so rapidly that by 1886 Errington was instructed to prepare plans for a second reservoir at Ponsonby and a new reservoir at Mount Eden. Within ten years between 1879 and 1889 consumer connections increased from 877 to 6,248 and annual consumption from 55,302,000 gallons to 598,460,000 gallons. The draw off was such that the supply from Western Springs had to be augmented from neighbouring creeks. The pump had to lift water from various sources until, in 1907, water started to become available from the Waitakere Ranges. From 1914 water from Western Springs continued to be used in times of shortage, but because of pollution it eventually required heavy chlorination. It ceased to be used regularly in 1928.

In 1936 the Waterworks Engineer requested permission to have all the machinery scrapped and Council was of a mind to accede to the request. In 1937 the boilers were removed. Fortunately the scrapping of the Beam Engine was avoided by the agitation of the Engineers led by Arthur Mead, a key figure in Auckland’s water supply heritage. The idea of a museum on the site was then first mooted. It had to wait nearly another thirty years. After World War II with a shortage of building materials the chimney was demolished to supply bricks, however, the rest remains intact.

In 1999 the building was renovated and upgraded to current building structural standards.

The Museum of Transport and Technology was officially opened in 1964 with the pumphouse at its core. The excellence of Victorian Architecture and Engineering is apparent for all to see. It is the recipient of an IPENZ Heritage Plaque and is one of the few remaining Beam Engines of this type in existence.

Owner: Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)
Engineer: William Errington
Contractor: T & S Morrin Ltd