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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
then let for the construction of the foundations employing the grouting technique used in the experiments. The dam will be an earth dam, 170 feet in height and about 1,700 feet in length. Several contracts were also let for preliminary works, such as access roads and quarters.
In the New Territories all the principal market towns have water supplied either from main sources or provided independently from local stream intakes. Supply hours are subject to restriction as in the urban areas, but the system of piped water supplies is gradually being extended year by year. The following villages, which used to obtain their water from wells or stream intakes, which ran dry during the winter months, were provided during the year with a public water supply: Sham Tseng and Ting Kau on the mainland, and Tai O on Lantau.
In addition to the shortage of water for domestic purposes, there is also not enough for agriculture in the New Territories. To remedy this situation and, as mentioned above, to allay the fears of villagers that the construction of new catchwaters for large new reservoirs was diverting water that would otherwise flow onto agricultural land, the Government has been carrying on a policy of increasing irrigation supplies. A large number of small schemes consisting of diversion dams and channels for irrigation purposes were completed in 1958. Work was commenced on two dams, each approximately 60 feet in height, to impound between them about 40,000,000 gallons of water. A Malayan firm experienced in deep-well drilling was employed on sinking deep wells and thirteen wells were completed, the deepest one going down to a depth of about 303 feet. Of the thirteen wells completed only six yielded a satisfactory supply; more wells are being sunk. Further details of the steps taken to improve irrigation supplies are given in Chapter 7.
Electricity. Electricity on the Island is supplied by The Hong- kong Electric Co., Ltd., distributing an alternating current at 22 kV and 6.6 kV, 3 phase, 50 cycles. Bulk consumers are supplied at 6.6 kV and domestic consumers at 346/200 volts. The amount of electricity generated during 1958 was 378,000,340 kilowatt hours, an increase of 8.17% over the previous year's figure.
The number of consumers at the end of the year was 83,872, an increase of 8.84% over the 1957 figure.