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SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1977
OVER THE ENTIRE MONTH OF MAY RAINFALL OVER THREE-QUARTERS OF THE MAJOR CATCHMENT AREAS WAS ONLY HALF THAT RECORDED AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY. AMID ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AND TORRENTIAL RAIN, LIKE THE MAY 24 DELUGE, THE FACT REMAINED THAT THE RESERVOIRS STILL HELD ONLY ABOUT 46.4 PER CENT OF THE IR TOTAL CAPACITY, COMPARED WITH 63.1 PER CENT AT THE SAME TIME LAST YEAR.
ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTOR OF WATER SUPPLIES, MR. W.D.A. TUCKER, HONG KONG DID GAIN SOMETHING FROM THE MAY RAINS. CATCHMENTS COLLECTED SOME 681 MILLION GALLONS IN ADDED WATER, AND, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT A REDUCTION OF OVERALL CONSUMPTION DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE MONTH, THE TERRITORY WAS ACTUALLY ABOUT 900 MILLION GALLONS BETTER OFF.
+BUT WELCOME AS THIS WAS, IT FELL FAR SHORT OF THE REQUIRED TARGET OF 3,000 MILLION GALLONS,+ MR. TUCKER SAID. +WE SIMPLY DID NOT GET ANYWHERE NEAR AS MUCH AS WE NEEDED TO STAVE OFF RESTRICTIONS.+
ON TOP OF THAT, THERE WAS THE QUESTION OF SOIL MOISTURE DEFICIT. WITH THE TERRITORY HAVING JUST BEEN THROUGH ITS WORST DROUGHT FOR ABOUT 90 YEARS, HONG KONG'S SURFACE WAS LITERALLY BONE DRY. AND LIKE A HUGE RUMPLED SHEET OF BLOTTING PAPER IT NEEDED TO SOAK UP A VAST AMOUNT OF WATER BEFORE A FULL SATURATION LEVEL WOULD ALLOW NATURAL SEEPAGE INTO THE CATCHMENTS. THIS PROCESS ROBBED US OF SOMETHING LIKE 75 MM OF THE INITIAL RAINS.
THROUGHOUT ITS 136-YEAR HISTORY, HONG KONG HAS FACED WATER SUPPLY PROBLEMS RANGING FROM HAVING JUST ENOUGH TO MAKE ENDS MEET TO STRICT EMERGENCIES WHICH, AS IN 1902 FOR EXAMPLE, INVOLVED A SEVERE DROUGHT IN WHICH THE SUPPLY WAS CUT TO ONE HOUR A DAY AND WATER WAS BROUGHT IN FROM MAINLAND CHINA BY BOAT. AGAIN, IN 1929 WATER WAS IMPORTED FROM THE WEST RIVER NEAR MACAU AND FROM SHANGHAI.
AS FAR BACK AS 1938 THERE WAS LEGISLATION TO RESTRICT AND STRICTLY CONTROL THE SUPPLY OF WATER AND DURING THE 1963 DROUGHT AND THE 1967 CRISIS, CONSUMERS WERE EVENTUALLY RESTRICTED TO A FOUR-HOUR SUPPLY ON EVERY FOURTH DAY.
BUT THE HISTORY OF THE CONTINUING STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE FRESHWATER SERVICE GOES BACK AS FAR AS 1860, SOME 20 YEARS AFTER THE TERRITORY'S BIRTH AS A BRITISH COLONY, HONG KONG THEN, AS THINGS STAND TODAY, HAD A HEALTHY THOUGH ERRATIC AVERAGE RAINFALL - THE ACTUAL ANNUAL YIELD DEPENDING ON THE VAGARIES OF THE SUMMER MONSOONS BUT NO SIZEABLE LAKE OR RIVER.
UNDER SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, GOVERNOR FROM 1859 TO 1865, THE GOVERNMENT ASSUMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROVIDING A PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY AND A RESERVOIR WAS BUILT AT POK FU LAM TO PIPE FRESH WATER TO CENTRAL DISTRICT. HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF A POPULATION
INCREASE. DEMAND FOR WATER OUTSTRIPPED THE SUPPLY BEFORE THE PROJECT WAS EVEN COMPLETED, SO ANOTHER RESERVOIR WAS CONSTRUCTED AT TAI TAM AND THAT SAMÉ SYNDROME, CONTINUING POPULATION PRESSURE AND A SCARCITY OF ADEQUATE CATCHMENT AREAS, HAS DOGGED EFFORTS TO BEAT THE WATER PROBLEM EVER SINCE.
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