ENG-1957 — Page 286

Chapter 14: Public Utilities and Public Works

PUBLIC UTILITIES

Waterworks. The supply of water to the Colony is the responsibility of the Public Works Department of the Government.

In the absence of large rivers, or other regular sources of supply, the Colony is entirely dependent for its water on rain, most of which falls during the summer when the south- west monsoon blows and occasional typhoons are experi- enced. The seven months October to April inclusive are regarded as the dry season, with an average rainfall of 18.27 inches, but, because the ground is so dry, very little of the rain finds its way into the reservoirs. As the dry season may sometimes extend to the end of June, the average daily consumption during the winter months has to be carefully husbanded in order that there may be a reasonable quantity of water in the reservoirs at the end of April as a reserve against late rains. The inadequacy of existing resources also involves a certain amount of restrictions even during the wet

season.

The new

reservoir at Tai Lam Chung in the New Territories was completed in 1957, and the Colony now has 14 storage reservoirs which have a total capacity of 10,500,000,000 gallons. The new reservoir is the largest, having a capacity of 4,507,000,000 gallons. The older reser- voirs, which are situated both on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories, normally fill up completely during the wet season, and the new one should also do so after all its catchwaters have been constructed. Despite this sub- stantial and very welcome improvement in water supplies,