ENG-1967 — Page 42

18

REVIEW

million gallons was made available from China. In February, as a precaution, the daily supply period in Hong Kong was reduced from 24 hours to 16 hours.

Rainfall during May and June was below average. The full ration from China, including the agreed additions, was drawn by June 25 and during the month the supply period had to be reduced to eight hours a day and then to four hours every other day. On July 11, the total storage in the reservoirs stood at 3,277 million gallons, that is about 50 days supply. A request for an additional supply from China went unanswered and the situation was serious. On July 13 the supply period was further reduced to four hours every fourth day. Hospitals and other essential users continued to be given a full supply while squatter areas and industries received a daily four-hour supply and the resettlement estates a four-hour supply every other day.

As in the previous severe drought of 1963, the population put up with the discomfort with remarkable patience and cheerfulness despite communist attempts to exploit the situation. The position, however, was critical; any further reduction in the supply period would have been almost insupportable and would in any case have been unlikely to reduce materially the rate of consumption. Various possibilities were considered of obtaining additional water from other sources, but they offered little hope of success.

By good fortune there was timely rain in mid-July which eased the situation, and further heavy rain in mid-August and September. At the end of September it was possible to revert to a four-hour daily supply and with the resumption of water from China on October 1-at the beginning of a new supply period-the full 24-hour supply was reinstated.

In order to conserve supplies, however, saline water from Plover Cove was added to the water issued for general consumption. The resulting mixture, although salty to the taste, is below the maximum limit recommended by the World Health Organization and it has no ill-effects. It has, however, provided the communists with the opportunity to work up a campaign against this 'con- tamination'.

They have also seized upon the adjustments made to the exchange rates for the Hong Kong dollar, following the devaluation of