THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Institution as a body is not responsible either for the statements made, or for the opinions expressed, in the following pages.
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND BONS, LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S. E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.
"
SECT. II. OTHER SELECTED PAPERS.
(Paper No. 4248.)
Hong Kong Waterworks: Low-level Reservoirs and
Contingent Works for Pumping Supply."
By DANIEL JAFFÉ, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.
THE Island of Hong Kong was ceded to the British Government in 1841, and, during the early years of occupation, the water-supply to the city of Victoria was obtained from wells and from the streams which flow down the slopes of the hills above the city. The supply from these sources must have proved very inadequate,during the dry season, but it was not until 1860 that a scheme which included the provision of some storage was embarked upon. The Pokfulum Valley on the south side of the Island (Fig. 1, Plate 1) was tapped for a further supply, an earthen dam being constructed across it in 1866 to form a reservoir of 66 million gallons capacity. The overflow sill at 555 feet above datum (datum is about L.W.O.S.T.) permitted water to be delivered by gravitation to all parts of the city, including the hillsides above it to the height then built upon.
The improvement in the supply which this scheme effected did not long suffice for the rapidly growing needs of the Colony and the late Sir Robert Rawlinson, K.C.B., Past-President Inst. C.E., who was consulted in 1873, recommended the utilization of the Taitam Valley on the lines of a scheme prepared by Mr. John Macneill Price, then Surveyor-General of Hong Kong. This project, carried out during the years 1883-90, comprised the construction of a masonry and concrete dam to impound 312 million gallons. From this reservoir the water was conveyed by gravitation through a tunnel 1.4 mile long and a conduit of double this length to filter-beds, and thence to a service-reservoir above the city.1
1 Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol, c, p. 246.
B 2
258
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.