CO129-598-3 Tai Lam Chung Reservoir Project 17-3-1949 - 7-10-1949 — Page 40

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CONFIDENTIAL

40

나

Colonial Office,

The Church House,

Great Smith Street,

London, S.W.1.

25th May, 1949.

hey dem fraution,

I know you appreciate that Ministers are much con- cerned about the possibility of Chinese Communist action against Hong Kong, and it is in this connection that I have been asked to get some information about water supplies in an emergency.

2. It appears from such information as we have, e.g. your despatches on the Tai Lam Chung project, that the Island at present draws 40% of its water supply from the New Territories by pipe-line under the harbour, the other 60% coming from its own catchment areas; Kowloon gets the whole of its supply from the New Territories. It would also seem that, while present supplies of water are in- adequate for all the purposes for which water is required, they are not inadequate for drinking purposes only either for the Colony as a whole or for the Island alone if it were deprived of its resources on the mainland. (Kowloon would, however, presumably be without water if supplies from the reservoirs in the New Territories were not available.)

3. I should be very grateful to know whether the above correctly summarises the position and, in particular, what would be the effect on the Island if supplies from the mainland were out off, both in relation to the present population and to any substantial increase in the future by a further influx of refugees, and also, in the latter event, the effect on the water supply generally, so long as the reservoirs in the New Territories remain

SIR ALEXANDER GRANTHAM, K.C.M.G.

/ available.

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