ENG-1960 — Page 25

12

REVIEW

the Shek Pik and part of the Integrated Schemes are under way. We have found other means to meet the needs of the farmers.

Before turning to the major projects for conserving urban supplies which have attracted so much public attention in the last ten years, it is worth considering a very recent innovation to save fresh water. A conservative estimate of the amount of water required for flushing is nine gallons a person a day. It is clear that in the conditions prevailing in Hong Kong, this quantity cannot be supplied from the mains; and potable water has never been permitted for flushing unless an alternative supply is demons- trably impossible. The surge of high density development over the last decade has introduced a new problem; there has been a general lowering of the water table and many of the old wells have dried up. Accordingly about two years ago Government started to install salt water mains to provide a supply not only for flushing, but also for fire fighting. It was clearly desirable in the early stages of such a programme to deal with areas where there are large concentrations of people, and resettlement estates were given priority. In addition, the programme included the North Point area in Hong Kong where the Housing Authority's first estate, as well as heavy private development, had increased the density of the population far beyond that for which the installed water capacity was designed, and where the rocky nature of the ground made wells impracticable. The programme, which should reach completion by the end of March 1961, allows for the expenditure of $17 million in six areas, of which two are on the island and four in Kowloon. Further schemes are likely to start in the near future.

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The firm of Messrs Binnie, Deacon & Gourley had sub- mitted their report on the feasibility of the Tai Lam Chung scheme in December 1940, but there was no further progress until after the war. When peace came, the project was little nearer to fruition. The cost, then estimated at nearly $100 million, was quite beyond the financial resources of the Colony at the time and there was no prospect of raising a loan locally at acceptable rates of interest, nor of obtaining Treasury approval for the issue of a loan in London. Early in 1948 there was even a body of