Q 62
monthly paid staff and 732 daily paid staff in the Maintenance Section and (European) 1 Executive Engineer in charge, 3 Engineers, 4 Inspectors of Works, (Non-European) 2 Draughtsmen, 1 Land Surveyor and 74 daily paid staff in the Construction Section.
6. The rainfall for the year, recorded at the Royal Observatory, was 86.71 inches. This amount was 31.35 inches more than last year and was 2.41 more than the average for the past fifty-six years which was 84.30 inches. Details of the rainfall at the various Waterworks gauges are given in Appendix II.
7. The low rainfall year of 1938 necessitated the continuance of the restricted hours of supply which were in force at the end of that year. The early Spring and Summer rains in 1939 however enabled increased hours of supply to be given but due to the abnormal growth in population caused mainly by the influx of refugees from South China the storage, filtering and distribution resources of the Colony were insufficient to maintain a full supply.
8. Appendix VIII shows the consumptions of the Island and Mainland, singly and combined, for the past 21 years from which the rapid growth will be seen. The combined consumption of 8,787.93 million gallons (apart from village supplies in the New Territories) increased for the year by an average daily amount of 2.77 to 26.82 million gallons per day.
9. Distribution on the Island was particularly difficult as usual but the new Cross Harbour mains, the new pumping stations at Garden Road and Albany and the new service reservoir at Peak Road assisted greatly in coping with the increased demands for water.
10. The standard of purity of water accepted to the end of the year was B. Coli absent in 10 c.c. but from the results of examination given later in this report it will be seen that the purity of the water far exceeded this standard. After consultation with the Medical Authorities it has been decided to adopt a standard of B. Coli absent in 50 c.c. for 1940 and at some future date, when facilities permit, to adopt the standard recommended by the Ministry of Health in "Bacteriological Examination of Water Supplies". Towards the end of the year arrangements were made for the sampling of water to enable the degree of purity to be established both at the point of entry into the distribution systems and at the point of delivery to consumers.
11. Waste detection was proceeded with but was restricted owing to lack of staff, late arrival of equipment and to difficulties encountered by having to shut off supplies in the mains at night owing to restricted hours of supply. Testing and stamping of fittings was however introduced during the year.
12. Further investigations of leakage were made at Pineapple Pass dam of Jubilee Reservoir and remedial measures to arrest leakage at the low gaps of the same reservoir were carried out.
13. The workshops in Hong Kong and Kowloon were both heavily taxed in coping with the requirements for maintenance of Waterworks and other plants and repair of meters generally. As the accommodation and plant at these two Workshops are quite inadequate provision has been made for the construction of new ones at other sites. The total numbers of meters in use in 1939 on the Island and Mainland combined was 26,700 compared with 24,457 in 1938, an increase of 2,243. Of the above 18,435 were repaired and tested during the year compared with 17,104 in 1938, an increase of 1,331. The percentage of meters repaired to total number of meters in use was 69% or an overhaul of each meter every 17 months. It is proposed to increase this rate of repair by overhauling each meter after a fixed consumption for each size or at a maximum period of 12 months. In connection with the maintenance of Government buildings 1,776 items of work were carried out during the year on the Island and 2,368 on the Mainland making a total of 4,144 items.
Q 62
monthly paid staff and 732 daily paid staff in the Maintenance Section and (European) 1 Executive Engineer in charge, 3 Engineers, 4 Inspectors of Works, (Non-European) 2 Draughtsmen, 1 Land Surveyor and 74 daily paid staff in the Construction Section.
6. The rainfall for the year, recorded at the Royal Observatory, was 86.71 inches. This amount was 31.35 inches more than last year and was 2.41 more than the average for the past fifty six years which was 84.30 inches. Details of the rainfall at the various Waterworks gauges are given in Appendix II.
7. The low rainfall year of 1938 necessitated the continuance of the restricted hours of supply which were in force at the end of that year. The early Spring and Summer rains in 1939 however enabled increased hours of supply to be given but due to the abnormal growth in population caused mainly by the influx of refugees from South China the storage, filtering and distribution resources of the Colony were insufficient to maintain a full supply.
8. Appendix VIII shows the consumptions of the Island and Mainland, singly and combined, for the past 21 years from which the rapid growth will be seen. The combined consumption of 8,787.93 million gallons (apart from village supplies in the New Territories) increased for the year by an average daily amount of 2.77 to 26.82 million gallons per day.
9. Distribution on the Island was particularly difficult as usual but the new Cross Harbour mains, the new pumping stations at Garden Road and Albany and the new service reservoir at Peak Road assisted greatly in coping with the increased demands for water.
10. The standard of purity of water accepted to the end of the year was B. Coli absent in 10 c.c. but from the results of examination given later in this report it will be seen that the purity of the water far exceeded this standard.
After con- sultation with the Medical Authorities it has been decided to adopt a standard of B. Coli absent in 50 c.c. for 1940 and at some future date, when facilities permit, to adopt the standard recommended by the Ministry of Health in "Bacteriological Examination of Water Supplies". Towards the end of the year arrangements were made for the sampling of water to enable the degree of purity to be established both at the point of entry into the distribution systems and at the point of delivery to
consumers.
11. Waste detection was proceeded with but was restricted owing to lack of staff, late arrival of equipment and to difficulties encountered by having to shut off supplies in the mains at night owing to restricted hours of supply. Testing and stamping of fittings was however introduced during the year.
12. Further investigations of leakage were made at Pineapple Pass dam of Jubilee Reservoir and remedial measures to arrest leakage at the low gaps of the same reservoir were carried out.
13. The workshops in Hong Kong and Kowloon were both heavily taxed in coping with the requirements for maintenance of Waterworks and other plants and repair of meters generally. As the accommodation and plant at these two Workshops are quite inadequate provision has been made for the construction of new ones at other sites. The total numbers of meters in use in 1939 on the Island and Mainland combined was 26,700 compared with 24,457 in 1938, an increase of 2,243. Of the above 18,435 were repaired and tested during the year compared with 17,104 in 1938, an increase of 1,331. The percentage of meters repaired to total number of meters in use was 69% or an overhaul of each meter every 17 months. It is proposed to increase this rate of repair by overhauling each meter after a fixed consumption for each size or at a maximum period of 12 months. In connection with the maintenance of Government buildings 1,776 items of work were carried out during the year on the Island and 2,368 on the Mainland making a total of 4,144 items.
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