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Meanwhile further storage reservoirs were also being built on Hong Kong island in the Tytam valley. The Tytam Byewash reservoir, with a capacity of 22,370,000 gallons, was completed in 1904; and the so-called Intermediate Reservoir in Tytam valley, with a capacity of 195,914,000 gallons, was completed in 1907. Work on the Tytam-tuk scheme began in 1913 and was completed on the 22nd October, 1917. These works comprise a storage reservoir, practically at sea-level, with a capacity of 1,419 million gallons, a pumping-station capable of raising 9 million gallons a day to Tytam Tunnel, two suction mains of 18" diameter and half a mile in length, and three rising mains of 18" diameter and 1.93 miles in length. Three more small schemes must be mentioned for the sake of completeness. In 1914 a service reservoir and two filter-beds were constructed to supply the Shau-ki-wan district with water collected from intakes in streams on the eastern slopes of Mount Parker. A supply of about 200,000 gallons a day is obtained from this source.
In 1922 a balance tank was built and a 3" pipe-line, capable of yielding 75,000 gallons a day, was laid from Wong-nai- ch'ung reservoir to serve the new development in Repulse Bay. Finally, this year, a similar pipe-line and balance tank have been built connecting the Stanley peninsula with the Tytam supply and capable of yielding nearly 100,000 gallons a day.
No further storage reservoirs have as yet been constructed in Hong Kong, and the total capacity of the six storage reservoirs built by Government on the island-namely, Pok-fu-lam, Wong- nai-ch'ung, Tytam, Tytam Byewash, Tytam Intermediate and Tytam- tuk-is 2,118,414,000 gallons. The population of Hong Kong island cannot now be less than 600,000 souls. Thus the storage, which in 1863 was no more than 16 gallons a head, and in 1899 was only 1,972 gallons a head, is now 3,530 gallons a head.
Apart from these six storage reservoirs constructed by the Government, four reservoirs have been built on Hong Kong island by private enterprise. Three of them were constructed by Messrs. Butterfield & Swire in connection with their establishments at Quarry Bay. The first was built in 1884 and has a capacity of 11 million gallons. The second, built in 1893, has a capacity of 30 million gallons; and the third, built in 1895 and situated at the 500-foot level above North Point, has a capacity of 137.7 million gallons. There is also in the Aberdeen valley a storage reservoir constructed in 1890 by the Tai Shing Paper Manufacturing Company. Its capacity, when first built, was 44.2 million gallons. In the years 1899 and 1900 its dam was raised 18 feet to its present level, thus increasing the storage by 47.8 million gallons to a total capacity of 92 million gallons. From this reservoir the Company is required by the terms of its Crown lease to supply the Aberdeen and Ap-li- chau villages with 60,000 gallons a day; and, in order to improve this supply, the Government in 1897 constructed a small covered service reservoir and three filter-beds. The Company's own reser- voir was, however, resumed by the Hong Kong Government in March last, as an initial step towards the extension of the waterworks
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in Aberdeen valley, a matter to which I shall revert later on. Ap-li-chau supply was obtained by waterboats until 1928, when a 2′′ pipe-line was laid across the bed of Aberdeen harbour to give this small island a direct service.
I now pass from the subject of water storage to that of water. distribution. On the mainland, where storage of water has fortun- ately hitherto kept pace with the growth of the population, it is now the policy of Government to give all premises a metered supply through the mains. But on the island, where in times of drought the water storage has often been insufficient to supply the needs of the resident population, a more complicated system of distribution grew up. Under the legislation of the years 1895 to 1898 the system of supply was as follows:--
(a) Within the City of Victoria water for domestic purposes was supplied without check or restraint of any kind through services laid on to the houses. Any house could have its service. Meters were fixed only in the case of supplies for trade or non-domestic purposes.
(b) Outside the City of Victoria the supply of water to Chinese houses was entirely by means of public fountains. Services for the supply of water for domestic purposes were permitted to European houses only, and in the case of all services meters had to be fixed.
(c) A uniform rate, both inside and outside the city, of 2% per annum on the rating valuation was charged on account of water. In the case of all metered supplies, the water consumed was charged for at the rate of 25 cents per thousand gallons, a rebate of 14% per annum on the rating valuation being made from the accounts.
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You will see that under the old ordinances there were strange anomalies. A European house inside the city boundaries obtained an unlimited supply of water through the mains without payment, except in the form of rates; but a similar house outside the city boundaries was metered and had to pay for all it consumed, only a portion of the amount paid as water rate being refunded. A Chinese house inside the city boundaries also obtained an unlimited supply of water from the mains without payment, except in the form of rates; but a similar house outside the city boundaries had to obtain its supply from street-fountains, whilst paying the same water rate as a house inside the city.
Drought and insufficient storage made it frequently necessary to resort to a system of intermittent supply upon the island. Indeed, from 1889, the date of the completion of the original Tytam scheme, down to 1902 it had only been found possible to maintain the full supply in four years. The trouble came to a head during the exceptional drought of 1901-2, which extended over the whole of South China and resulted in a water famine on Hong Kong island
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