and supply continued for seventeen hours daily over Christmas and New Year.
Rainfall
282. The Royal Observatory recorded 79.90 inches of rainfall for the year, which is 4.84 less than the average of 84.74. Nineteen rain gauges are located in the various waterworks catchment areas and they recorded an average of 80.23 inches. Monthly variations were above normal, the rainfall for September being twice, and that for February five times, the average for these months.
Storage
283. Water stored in the impounding reservoirs at various dates is shown below:
Date Quantity in Million Gallons Remarks April 1st, 1958 4,584 Including 1,700 million gallons in Tai Lam Chung. July 16th, 1958 3,189 Minimum (30.5%) September 14th, 1958 10,052 Maximum (96.0%) April 1st, 1959 4,300 Including 1,401 million gallons in Tai Lam Chung.284. On only three days, from 1st to 3rd October, did all reservoirs with the exception of Tai Lam Chung overflow to waste simultaneously; on two days at the end of July all the Island reservoirs overflowed but none of the Mainland reservoirs were full. The greatest quantity stored in the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir totalled 4,107 million gallons, on the 14th September (maximum capacity 4,507 million gallons).
Consumption
285. Water supplied to the urban areas reached 19,475 million gallons and the New Territories areas 597 million gallons, increases of 823 and 97 million gallons, respectively, over the previous year. The number of hours of supply totalled 3,529 as compared with 5,078 in 1957/58, being an average of 9.7 hours per day compared with 13.9 per day.
286. The 83.9 million gallons consumed on the 4th September when the Colony once again received a full supply exceeded the previous record consumption in any one day. The previous record, which occurred last year, was 73.08 million gallons.
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