LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
THREE
RAIN-MAKING EXPERIMENTS. On the 18th June by kind permission of the Commodore rain making experiments were undertaken by the Royal Air Force. Seven flights were made from the Kai Tak Aerodrome by planes each carrying 1 cwt. of powdered kaolin which was dispersed into clouds considered to be so located as to produce the best results over the catchment areas of the Hongkong and Kowloon Reservoirs. Unfortunately no appreciable results were obtained.
WELLS AND NULLAHS.
Supplies from wells and nullahs are being made available in consultation with the Hon. Director of Medical and Sanitary Services. Particulars of wells opened have already been published. The following is a list of the nullahs from which supplies have been made available to the public:
Star Street.
Victoria Nullah at Queen's Road East.
Albany Nullah-Boundary Path, Lower Tram Station.
Wyndham Street/Wellington Street (from Glenealy Nullah).
No. 12 Bridge Nullah Shaukiwan, Main Nullah.
No. 12 Bridge Nullah Shaukiwan, West Branch.
P. W. D. Annexe (from Albany Nullah).
Tai Hang Village.
Cadogan Street.
Beach Street.
Storm Water Drain springs, Recreation Ground, Happy Valley.
Albany Nullah at Queen's Road East.
Albany Nullah at Kennedy Road.
Albany Nullah at MacDonnell Road.
Duddell Street.
Seth's Corner. Whitfield.
Matheson Street,
Yee Woo Street.
Pennington Street.
Pokfulam Road/Shektongtsui Nullah.
Hing Hon Road.
Bonham Road/Western Street.
At all wells and nullahs notices, in English and Chinese, have been posted warning the public that the water must be boiled if used for potable purposes.
PERMANENT MEASURES.
Measures taken to prevent recurrence of water shortage.
The following permanent measures are being taken to increase the supply:-
1. The Aberdeen Valley Scheme, estimated to maintain a daily supply of 2.12 million gallons during the driest known period.
It is hoped to call for tenders within 2 months for the construction of the dam and a short length of catchwater. The necessary pipes and pumps have been ordered from home, and water from this source should be available by the Spring of 1931.
2. The cross harbour pipe line which has now received the approval of the Consulting Engineers is likely to be available in time for the spring rains of 1930 and will be capable of delivering up to 4 million gallons a day to the island.
3. The Dragon's Back and Mt. Pottinger Catchwaters have been investigated and preliminary drawings prepared. The minimum yield from the areas intercepted by these Catchwaters; is estimated at 11⁄2 million gallons a day. Construction work can be commenced next year if sufficient staff is available.
4. The Contract for the construction of the Byewash Dam has been signed and notice to commence the work givon. It should be possible to impound a certain amount of water in the reservoir in about 14 months' time. The total storage will be 175 million gallons approximately.
5. The Sheklipui Service Reservoir now under construction will add 10 million gallons to storage. It will be finished within a year.
6. Investigation of the further sections of the Shing Mun Valley Scheme is proceeding. The Gorge Dam at Pineapple Pass appears to be feasible and preliminary investigations at Gin Drinkers' Bay, where there is a very large basin capable of impounding fully 2,000 million gallons, have turned out well.
Considerable preliminary work is, however, necessary before works of this magnitude can be commenced,
These and other possible sources of supply have been dealt with fully in Sessional Paper No. 4 of 1928.
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