storage reservoir scheme complete with ancillary works. Investigations which began some years before the war continued with a view to providing an additional storage reservoir of about 7,000 million gallons capacity in the Tai Lam Chung Valley, which is situated 16 miles from Kowloon along the Castle Peak Road. Consulting Engineers had reported on the scheme in December 1940, but owing to difficulties in deciding on the best site for the dam, a decision was not possible before the war. The site of the dam was not settled until 1948. By this time the cost of the scheme, estimated at $21,600,000 before the war, was now estimated at about $100,000,000 and financial difficulties held up progress.
222. With the ever-increasing demand for water, however, it became imperative to obtain further supplies, and seeking a way out of the impasse, a proposal for development by stages was put forward. The suggestion was accepted, and the Consulting Engineers were asked to report again. Mr. H. J. Gourley, M.I.C.E., of Messrs. Binnie, Deacon & Gourley of Westminster, thereupon visited the Colony, and as his report, dated 31st July, endorsed the suggestion, his firm was instructed to proceed immediately with detailed designs.
223. The scheme comprises a mass concrete dam 130 ft. high built thick enough to allow of subsequent raising to 180 ft. By keeping the top water level down 50 ft. below the ultimate level, the construction of four low subsidiary dams has been deferred. The storage capacity at this stage will be 1,150 million gallons, and the supply aqueduct is being designed to discharge 10 million gallons per day, except for the tunnels, which are designed for the ultimate maximum draw-off of 40 million gallons per day. The top water level being only 150 ft. above sea level, a gravity supply to Kowloon and Hong Kong is not possible. A pumping station at Tsun Wan, about 7 miles from Kowloon, will boost the delivery up to filters and up to a service reservoir situated high enough to give a gravity supply to the urban areas.
Pumps and filters are to be installed for 10 million gallons per day.
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