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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 28TH AUGUST, 1897. GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.-No. 343.
The following Description of the Kowloon Waterworks is published.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 25th August, 1897.
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Colonial Secretary.
707
No. 451.
HONGKONG-KOWLOON WATERWORKS.
PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE, HONGKONG, 3rd August, 1897.
SIR,-I have the honour to forward you the following short description of the Kowloon Water- works accompanied by six photographs, and request that they may be transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for the information of the Colonial Office.
Description.
Prior to the completion of the works about to be described the inhabitants of that portion of territory known as British Kowloon were entirely dependent upon wells or streams in the immediate neighbourhood of their dwellings for their water supply. The rapidly increasing population and the establishment and growth of industrial enterprises made it imperative that a supply should be introduced from sources less liable to contamination or to failure during the dry season.
Accordingly, in 1893, works were undertaken on lines which had been sketched out by Mr. Osbert CHADWICK, C.M.G., during his visit to the Colony in 1890.
British Kowloon consists of a peninsula 24 miles in length by an average breadth of a little over 1 mile. The southern extremity of the peninsula is very largely occupied by European residences and Barracks for the Hongkong Regiment whilst the coast line to the northwards is fringed with Chinese villages, two of which-Yaumati and Hung Hom-are of considerable size and importance. The interior of the peninsula consists of a series of barren hills intersected in all directions by valleys, a district which to a superficial glance appears far from favourable for the purpose of obtaining a water supply.
Examination showed, however, that the valley bottoms were filled with sand saturated with water. and subsequent experiments proved that a daily yield of at least 100,000 gallons from an area of 95 acres might be relied on. Acting on this information, three collecting valleys were selected, having a combined area of 220 acres and, therefore, a probable minimum yield of 232,000 gallons per day, equal to 16 gallons per head for a population of 14,200 as shown by the census of 1891.
Across the entrance of each of the three valleys, a trench was excavated through the water- bearing sand to the hard ground below and filled in with clay puddle, so as to form a dam and prevent the escape of the water underground to the sea. Above the dams, wells were sunk and into these' were led, at a depth of about 10 feet below the surface, lines of earthenware collecting pipes laid with open joints and surrounded with broken stone, the remaining part of the pipe trenches being filled in with screened sand. The sand in the valley bottoms is thus turned to account as a natural filtering agent and even during the heaviest rains the water arrives clear at the wells.
From the wells, which are at a level of 30 to 40 feet above the sea, the water is conveyed in iron pipes, laid as syphons so as to avoid deep trenches, to a storage tank of 150,000 gallons capacity at Yaumati. It is then pumped into a reservoir constructed on the top of an adjacent hill, 215 feet above sea level and having a capacity of 160,000 gallons, and from there it is distributed through cast iron mains varying from 7 inches to 3 inches in diameter and aggregating about 10 miles in length.
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For the supply of the native population, numerous fountains are fixed in the various villages, most of the European houses having a supply laid on in the usual manner. whether for domestic or trade purposes, are however measured by meter.
All private supplies,
To assist in regulating the supply, a second reservoir of 90,000 gallons capacity was constructed on a hill at Hung Hom, about 2 miles distant from Yaumati, at a height of 160 feet above the sea.
The engines and pumps, which are in duplicate, are of the Worthington type and were supplied by Messrs. JAMES SIMPSON & CO., London. Each set is capable of delivering 10,000 gallons per hour into the reservoir at Yaumati. The boilers are of the locomotive type and were supplied by Messrs. MARSHALL, SONS & Co. of Gainsborough.
The buildings at the pumping station include a workshop, fitters' quarters and quarters for a European overseer. They are constructed of Canton red bricks with granite dressings and are enclosed by a boundary wall.
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