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HONGKONG
DESCRIPTION
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The island of Hongkong is about 11 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad; its circumference is about 27 miles. It consists of a broken ridge of lofty hills, withi few valleys of any extent and scarcely any ground available for cultivation. The only valleys worthy of the name are those of Wong Nei Cheong, Tytam, and Little Hongkong, all of which are remarkably beautiful and well wooded, being in fact the only parts where any considerable arborescent vegetation was formerly to be found. The island is well watered by numerous streams, many of which are perennial. The city of Victoria and suburbs are supplied with water from the Pokfolum, Tytam, and Wong-nai Chung reservoirs. The first-named, constructed in 1866-69, has a storage capacity of sixty-six million gallons, while the Tytam reservoir, constructed in 1883,88, and extended in 1896, has an area of about 31 acres and a storage capacity of about three hundred and 84 million gallons. From the Tytam reservoir the water is conveyed into town by means of a tunnel a mile and one-third in length and a conduit, along the hillside some 400 feet above the sea level and enarly four miles in length, on which a fine road-called the Bowen Road-has been formed, which commands the most charming views of the city and the eastern district, and is a favourite resort of pedestrians. In many parts the conduit is carried over the ravines and rocks by ornamental stone bridges, one of which, above Wanchai, has twenty-three arches. The Wong-nai Cheong reservoir, completed in 1899, has a capacity of 30 million gallons. A bye-wash reservoir of about 22 million gallons capacity, situated immediately below the overflow of the Tytam reservoir, was completed in 1903, and a dam at Tytam Tuk to impound 194 million gallons was completed in 1909. A further extension of these waterworks was completed in 1917 at a cost of about $2,400,000, making provision for impounding an additional 1,419 million gallons of water. This was expected to meet the needs of the Colony for another fifteen years but experience in dry seasons shewed that it was barely adequate and a project was started to dam the Shing Mun river and to tap practically the whole of the Eastern and Southern slopes of Tai Mo Shan. This scheme was sanctioned by the Secretary of State in June, 1924, and the work slowly progressed. The newly developed catchment area includes 8,500 acres, or 13 square miles. It was proposed originally to build nine storage reservoirs, varying in size from 55 million to 1,700 million gallons and having an aggregate capacity of 4,500 million gallons, of which 2,400 million gallons, or rather more than the whole storage capacity in the Island of Hongkong, would be stored in gravity, and the remainder would be in pumping reservoir. The water will be conveyed through the, Kowloon hills by open conduit and two tunnels, the latter being 2,400 and 4,350 feet in length, respectively. It was intended that the water should be brought down from the Filtered Water Reservoir by 24-inch trunk mains, which were to be laid in the bed of the harbour from Kowloon Point and discharge into a Service Re- servoir, probably under the Public Gardens. The scheme was somewhat modi- fied but no very great difficulties were experienced until the question arose as to the best method of conveying the water across the harbour. Early in 1929 Mr. Henderson, the assistant director of Public Works, went Home to consult engineering authorities as to the best method of doing this, with a result that his own scheme, was approved and he hurried back to put the work in hand. The water is conveyed across to Hongkong in a pipe line laid on the bed of the harbour. The total length of this pipe is nearly 13 miles, The pipe, of Lap welded steel, has an internal diameter of 12.265 and is 7/16" thick. It is protected by a double hessian wrapping impregnated with bitumastic solution. It has a discharging capacity of 34 million gallons per day at 280 feet above sea level. The pipe line was formally opened on 31st March, 1930, by the Hon. Mr. W. T, Southorn, c.M.G., who was at that time the Officer Administering the Government..
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In 1929 the construction of the Kowloon Byewash Reservoir, immediately below the Kowloon Reservoir, was begun and will be finished in 1931, thereby adding a further 180 million gallons to Kowloon's storage. This dam will have a maximum height of over 100 feet.
In 1926 the Aberdeen Valley was investigated as a further source of supply for the Island of Hongkong and in 1929 work was commenced. The Scheme
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