67
With a filtering area of 8,000 sq. yds. a filtering speed of 400 gallons per sq. yard per day and a 10% allowance on beds out of action for cleaning, the Kowloon Beds can efficiently filter 2.9 mill. gallons per day. Before the end of the year the Shing Mun Fast Gravity Filter Beds will be completed adding 5 mill. gallons per day to the filtering capacity and bringing the total mainland capacity to 7.9 mill. gallons per day.
Filtering
Capacity.
The distribution system in Kowloon is on the whole good, but the steady Distribution. development all over the peninsula calls for a continuous programme of main- laying while the Service Reservoir Capacity is now inadequate.
ESTIMATED REQUIREMENTS.
It is difficult to work out with any degree of accuracy the exact water re- quirements of Hong Kong, as, during the last twenty years there have only been three years when it has been found possible to give a full supply throughout the twelve months, these years being 1919, 1920 and 1921.
From the census returns I find that the population of the City showed an average increase, between the years 1911 and 1921, of about 4.2% annually.
The full supply to the City in 1921 was 8.11 mill. gallons per day, which taking a percentage annual increase in supply equal to the annual percentage rise in population during the previous decade gives an estimated consumption of 10.14 million gallons per day in 1927.
The actual consumption during 1927 was 9 million gallons per day with res- trictions in force for over four months in the year and I estimate the full supply without restrictions would have been 9.5 million gallons per day, which is some- what lower than the estimate from a population basis.
Taking all circumstances into consideration I consider the following a modest estimate of the daily full supply water requirements of the City for the next five years :—--
1928
10
mill. galls.
1929
10.4 mill. galls.
1930
10.8 mill. galls.
1931
1932
11.2 mill. galls.
11.6
mill. galls.
Hong Kong.
During the decade 1911 to 1921 the population in Kowloon showed an Kowloon. average annual increase of about 84%.
The actual water consumption in 1921 was 759 million gallons and in 1927 it was 1,249 million gallons, showing an average annual increase of 10.7%.
When it is remembered that the supply in Kowloon is largely by street fountains but that a very large number of meters for internal services have been granted during the past few years, it is to be expected that the consumption per head will increase and that the daily consumption will therefore increase in proportion more rapidly than the population. The above figures support this
view.
Taking all circumstances into consideration I consider the following a modest estimate of the daily full supply water requirements of Kowloon during the next five years:-
1928
3.8 mill. galls.
1929
4.18
mill, galls.
1930
4.45 mill. galls.
1931
1932
4.66 mill, galls.
4.9
mill. galls.