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17.
HONG KUNG
HATER SUPPLY
ar. Kees-illiams has seen the papers on
which the Minister of Defence, reporting on
his visit to Hong Kong in June this year,
said that the water supply was reasonably
satisfactory unless the population continued
rapidly to increase, and has also seen the
subsequent report from the Governor explaining
that the water supply could not be materially
improved by any short-term expedient.
However if, in an emergency, the New Territories
reservoirs were cut off it would still be
possible by staggering and strictly limiting
hours of supply to provide sufficient water for
the whole population of the Colony (including
Kowloon) from the Island reservoirs. ¿ven at
the end of the dry months these would normally
be holding enough water to supply ten gallons p heat
per day for 44 days, though for technical reasons
probably only about 3 gallons per head per day
could be pumped over to Kowloon.
Mr. Rees¬illiams also saw in draft the
despatch recently sent approving in principle
the Governo a proposals for a large new reservoir scheme at Tâi Lam Chung in the New Territories
(recognised to be the only really satisfactory
solution to the long-term problem of water
supply), but at the same time warning the
Governor of the great difficulties likely to
• encou
in financing the moham
a shou nut
and that