Having thus summarised the previous correspondence concerning the Water-Supply of Hong-Kong, I will now pro-
ceed to consider the Petition of the Chinese inhabitants of Hong-Kong, the document which gives rise to the present
report.
13.
Since the Petition of the Chinese house-holders
has been under consideration, a telegram has been received to the effect that the Chinese community agree to "Rider-
Mains"
when
This is an arrangement which I suggested, last in Hong-Kong, to mitigate the evils of an intermittent supply of water, always serious, but more so, when the system of distributary pipes is not, as in the present case, expressly designed for this system of water-distribution.
15.
The general idea of the "Rider-main" was devised to reduce the evils of the intermittent system
of supply to the minimum.
At present,
the water has to be shut off from, and turned on to large sections of the town
simultaneously.
These sections often present great
differences in level.
The insanitary evils of an intermittent supply are
so well-known that it is hardly necessary to discuss them at length. Briefly summarised they may be thus stated.
The mains being empty, during a large part of
each day, infective matter may find its way into them.
Inasmuch as the daily supply of water flows into
the mains during a few hours only, storage within the dwelling is necessary. This again, opens the door to
contamination.