ENG-1955 — Page 194

148

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

completed. Quarters were constructed for the staff of this and the existing filters in the same neighbourhood. Above Sai Wan, on Hong Kong Island, work began on the erection of a similar filtration plant, with a capacity of 3m. gallons per day, and on a new 4m. gallon service reservoir.

The year's work included a large programme to replace existing mains and extend the distribution system. One factor which has caused an increase in the demand for water supplies is the rapid development of the Colony's resettlement programme. In Resettlement Areas main water is provided by means of stand-pipes. As the number of Resettlement Areas increases, so does the number of people who formerly, when they lived in squatter shacks, had only very limited regular means of obtaining water, and who are now becoming daily users of main water for the first time.

To facilitate the levelling of part of a hill which has to come down in connexion with the Government's scheme to extend Kai Tak Airport, it was necessary to take up and re-lay on a different alignment the 24′′ trunk main to the service reservoir at Kowloon Tsai. This work was completed during the year.

Work on the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir gained impetus. It included work on the dam itself, filtration building, tunnels and four service reservoirs with a total capacity of 321m. gallons. 30,000 feet of steel pipes, 30, 24 and 21 inches in diameter, have now been laid, and contracts have been let for further trunk mains, consisting of about 40,000 feet of 36, 30 and 24 inches diameter steel pipes, a balance tank and pumping station, a catchwater tunnel and settling basin.

It was already clear, however, that even when Tai Lam Chung Reservoir is providing capacity supply there will still not be enough water to meet the Colony's demands, and restrictions on supply hours will still be necessary. It was therefore decided to investigate, by means of boring tests, the possibility of constructing yet another reservoir, on the same scale as the Jubilee and Tai Lam Chung Reservoirs, to be started on completion of the latter. The area selected for these tests is the Shek Pik valley on the south coast of Lantao Island. If these tests are successful the pipe connexion to the urban area will be the longest so far laid.