CONFIDENTIAL
་ ་༽
3.
Major environmental problems in the Walled City include those of water supply, drainage, sanitation, electricity and fire risk.
(a) At present, Hong Kong Government policy is not to
provide direct water supply to the Walled City. Six standpipes on the periphery theoretically supply the 27,000 inhabitants but a recent survey indicated that over half of the residents were using government water, via a plethora of illegal connections.
(b) The drainage system was designed to cater for a village
of 1,000 people and now is hopelessly inadequate to cater for a population of over 40,000. Flooding is frequent and in summer the stench is sometimes intolerable. However, pumphouses are being installed and the open ditches are now cleared twice daily. (c) Sanitation is also affected by the uncontrolled dumping
of refuse, and continual building and demolition activities. The Urban Services Department have a large team of sweepers and have installed several huge refuse bins and standpipes for street clearing. But improvement has yet to be seen largely because of the lack of civil responsibility. Nevertheless residents are cooperative in health measures (e.g. responding well to innoculation campaigns). The Urban Services Department carry out investigation of infectious diseases, pest control, daily chlorination of wells and maintenance of public latrines. Medical clinics exist in the City, although
only one is registered.
(d) Electricity was granted to the residents only a few
years ago. Due to the rapid and disorderly build-up which allows no space for laying of underground mains and also due to the already existing illegal connections for electricity, overhead wires are found all over the City, constituting severe hazards in rain or fires. (e) Fire risk is high. There are 199 buildings, over 80%
of which are over six storeys. Because of the maze-like layout of the City, fire services find it difficult to locate fires and to bring fire appliances close to many of the buildings, so there is frequent loss of life.
/Also
تا