ENG-1956 — Page 248

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS

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approximately 1,000 million gallons to the water resources of the Colony. After the beginning of the dry season in October, they delivered water at the rate of 5 million gallons a day and in spite of the low level of the reservoirs enabled the hours of supply to be maintained at 5 a day until the end of the year. The average daily consumption for the year was 31.5 million gallons, the peak figure being 54.88 million gallons, during one of the Chinese New Year Holidays in February.

In the New Territories all the principal market towns have water supplied either from main sources or provided inde- pendently from local stream intakes. The system of piped water supplies is gradually being extended year by year. On the Island of Ping Chau in Mirs Bay a small impounding reservoir was formed and a 3" diameter pipe laid from it to the village of Chau Tau. Since the war a number of factories have been erected in the Tsuen Wan district and consequently there has been a big increase in the population of this formerly rural area. The industries established there need water to process their products with the result that the existing water supply, which comes direct from the Shing Mun Catchwater, is totally inadequate. In order to provide the area with water from Tai Lam Chung work was begun on a new 5 million gallons service reservoir, which is being constructed adjacent to the Tai Lam Chung Scheme rapid- gravity filters.

The erection of a 7 million gallons per day rapid-gravity filtration plant, near Kowloon Reservoir, which was started in 1955, was completed and work was commenced on the construction of a 5 million gallons service reservoir to receive water from the filters. A similar filtration plant with a capacity of 3 million gallons per day was completed above Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island and quarters were erected for the staff to operate the new plant. The construction of a 4 million gallons service reservoir near the filters was practically finished.