?(11)
8 To. J.A. Calder
PS
by
Deck
from Hong Kong - 25/6/4/6
Tel. No. 1421 from Mong
6
3
The Report on the Tai Lam Chung Valley water-works scheme, submitted by Mr. W. Woodward in June, 1946, points out well the necessity for the scheme.
(1)
ssential
Briefly the essential points are these:
Hong Kong, being a tropical country, over- crowded in its city areas and liable to epidemics
, should have a per capita consumption of water a day greater, or at least as great as that in Britain. In fact this is not so, due to the low standard of hygiene and to the fact that the cost of water is according to the amount consumed, instead of a lump sum paid for any amount as in most countries.
(2)
Owing to the inadequacy of storage reservoirs, the water supply in Hong Kong has often to be restricted during the dry season.
(3)
The population before the war was increasing rapidly, and since the liberation, this rate of increase is returning. The potential consumption of the Colony was estimated, even in 1939, to be above its resources, and further provision was therefore considered necessary.
Since the present water schemes could be expanded no further, it was essential that an entirely new site should be found for further reservoirs etc. For this purpose it was agreed that the Tai Lam Chung Valley was the most suitable, and proposals for its development were put forward before the war. But, due to the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, it was agreed that, while all the preliminaries of inspecting the site and the drawing up plans etc. could be completed, the actual work on the scheme should be deferred until the end of the war. The progress of the preliminary surveys is shown in section IV on p. 8 of Mr. Woodward's report. As the carrying out of the proposals is likely to take 6 or 7 years and its commencement has already been delayed 6 years, it is, I think, necessary that the scheme should be started as soon as possible, as indicated in the telegram from the Governor at (9) on thesfile.
D.B. Whyte.
10 Tel. No. 503 to pong Kong
11 From Kenrich
8.7.46
13/7/46 577/46
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