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Background notes 11.
Social Services
72
E. Water Supplies
34. The story of Hong Kong's water supply is one of recurrent crises
caused by the increasing demand out-stripping supply. The problem is
to conserve sufficient water in reservoirs during the rainy season to
last through the long dry season from October to May;
supplies are not available.
35.
underground
Two years of quite unprecedented low rainfall in Hong Kong led
to a most serious water shortage in 1963/64 and the imposition of
severe restrictions on supply for over a year. The situation was
relieved, with the co-operation of the Chinese, by the importation of
water from the middle reaches of the Pearl River using a fleet of
chartered tankers.
36. The Chinese have supplied, on payment, 5,000 million gallons of
water annually to Hong Kong since 1958 from a reservoir at Shum Shun
(just across the border). The drought which affected Hong Kong also
reduced the supplies available from this source. During the
shortage the Chinese offered to implement a scheme which, by drawing
on water from the East river, would greatly increase the supplies
available through Shum Shun. This offer was accepted, a new agreement
was signed with the Chinese in April 1964 and from the 1st March, 1965
Hong Kong has guaranteed to take a supply of 15,000 million gallons of
water a year from this source.
37. There are existing storage facilities in Hong Kong for about
15,000 million gallons. This figure will be trebled when the scheme
to convert Plover Cove into a fresh water reservoir has been completed.
This is a major engineering project costing over £30 million. Stage 1
of the scheme which included the setting up of pumping stations and
the building of a 900 million gallon reservoir has been completed, as
has much of Stage 2 comprising the construction of a 14 mile long dam
and two subsidiary dams to convert the sea inlet into a 30,000 million
gallon fresh water reservoir and the construction of collection and
delivery tunnels. The reservoir is now 3rd full, though the degree of
salinity is still excessive. The project will be completed in 1968.
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/38.