REVIEW
5
they can be filled. Even less fortunate are those who must go out for their water but have no stand pipes to go to. They seek the stream beds and nullahs, climbing rough and precipitous tracks to reach them; and the daily trek gradually grows longer as autumn passes into winter, and winter gives way to the heat of spring, for the streams diminish to a trickle until they are replenished by the first rains of summer. Such is the effort expended to bring home each day a few gallons of water which must suffice for drinking, cooking, personal cleanliness and the laundering for a large family. It is a tribute to the good humour of the inhabitants, particularly the womenfolk, that they accomplish the daily search for water in a patient and orderly manner. Nor is this only a domestic problem, for industry too needs water, sometimes in large quan- tities. Although it is Government's policy to provide an assured and constant supply for industry wherever possible, this would be quite uneconomical in those urban areas where housing and industry intermingle: it would mean for such districts a duplica- tion of the mains. In many instances, therefore, factory owners have had to provide their own wells or install large storage tanks. This has meant keeping heavy users of water out of some industrial areas where, for the time being, supplies would be insufficient for their needs.
The shortage of water in urban areas is such that for most of the year the mains are shut off for a large part of the day. Except to hospitals, Hong Kong can offer a 24-hour supply only when all the reservoirs are full to overflowing: during 1960 this happened on only 35 days. In recent years, 'four or five hours in the morning and the same time in the evening have generally been the most that could be spared even in the summer months, and these have dwindled in the dry season to three or four hours a day, some areas being supplied in the morning and the others in the evening. In the summer of 1956 before the newest and largest reservoir at Tai Lam Chung came into service, there was a reduction in the hours of supply to two and a half every second day.
How did such conditions arise, and what is being done to put them right? The root cause lies in geography and climate. The total land area of the Colony is 398 square miles. In this small territory there are no natural lakes, nor any rivers of a size to provide a sufficient and assured supply of water. There are of