Dear Wood,
26
24th August, 1949
You will recall that in the report on his visit to Hong Kong, the Minister of Defence noted that the water supply position in the Colony was reasonably satisfactory unless the population continued to increase rapidly, but that alternative supolies, such as from condensation, should be considered. We have now received from the Governor the following apprecution which you may wish to bring to the notice of your Minister.
In normal circumstances the whole of, the water supply for Kowloon on the mainland and 40% of the Island's supply (by pipe-line under the harbour)come from the New Territories reservoirs on the mainland the remaining 60% of the Island's suply is provided from its own catchment areas and reservoirs. with the present level of population it is usually necessary at certain times of the year to restrict the hours of sup ly and even when the reservoirs are full there is sometimes difficul because the demand for water exceeds the capacity of the filter beds. Unless the population of the Colony decreases substantially there can be no material improvement in this position until the projected reservoir at Tai Lam Ctning and associated works are built.
If, in an emergency, the New Territories reservoirs were cut off it would be possible to supply Kowloon from the Island using the pipe-line in reverse direction. At the most inconvenient time of the year (the end of March) there would normally be sufficient water in the Island reservoirs to supply the whole of the present population of the Colony (Island plus Kowloon) - viz, about 1,850,000 persons – with ten gallons per head per day for 44 days, although, for technical reasons, probably no more
R.F. Wood, Esq.
/than
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