2 Jg SUNDAY. AUGUST U. 1863 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFOHD. OREGON
Chinese Water Supply Vital to Hong Kong
Br ARTHUR J. DOMMEN
United Press International
Hong Kong-fllPB-The Chi
nese Reds could tike over
this tiny British outpost with
ease, either by armed force
or simply by cutting off the
water supply. '
Hong Kong, which flaunts
skyscraper hotels, swank
country clubs and a vast in
dustrial complex, gets about
five billion gallons of yater a
year from China, and the
Reds can turn off the faucet
any time they choose.
But no one here is worried.
There is virtually no fear on
the part of government of
ficials or private citizens that
China will make that strategic
move, although all agree the
colony would be easy pickings
if it did.
Why is Hong Kong so safe,
while other less desirable
pieces of real estate are eyed
covetously by the Commu
nist Chinese?
Shortage Has Passed
The critical water shortage
is Honk Kong's jugular vein
and the mid-summer madness
which saw thousands of bare
ly clothed people running
soap in their hands at the
slightest sign of a rain show
er has passed.
But the critical shortage of
fresh water which caused die
crisis ' is not over. And in
the opinion of most realistic
government officials, it will
not end in the foreseeable fu
ture. Hong Kong, which para
doxically consists mainly of
beautiful islands surrounded
by lapping waves and thin
peninsulas stretching (heir
arms into languid blue and
green waters, has a popula
tion whose natural expansion
races ahead of engineers' fran
tic schemes for preserving
precious rainfall.
Fight Losing Battle
The engineers have been
fighting a losing battle since
1859, when the governor, Sir
Hercules Robinson, offered a
reward for the design of a
workable water supply sys
tem. ' '
The winning plan provided
for a small impounding reser
voir in the Pokfulam valley
on the south side of Hong
Kong island, from which an
open conduit led to the center
into the streets with bars ofof the business district. Ca
pacity of this first reservoir
was 66 million gallons less
than Hong Kong's 3.5 million
residents consume in an aver
age summer day today.
The trouble is that Hong
Kong depends on rainfall for
all its water. It is necessary
to conserve the run-off from
the wet season (April to Sep
tember) in sufficient man
made storage reservoirs to last
during the dry season (Oc
tober to March).
No Permeable Strata
Nowhere in the British col-
only is there a large area of
permeable strata wnicn coma
be used as a natural storage
basin underground.
There is strick rationing of
water in Hong Kong. Resi
dents currently only receive
water pressure in their taps
for four hours every lourtn
dav. There has been a mass
campaign aimed at eliminat
ing water wastage, ana tne
Hong Kong government this
summer managed to reduce
the total per capita consumption.
Still, even with rationing,
consumption is running about
40 million gallons of water
per day, 'compared with a
1
A - . fry .to-1-
2
ll 1,'t -.1 villi is. w
CARRIES WATER Against a backdrop of carries water in cans up a narrow path lo
luxury apartment houses, a girl, member of her home in Hong Kong. (UPI)
a squatter family living in a hillside hut,
No matter how
you cut it . . .
' '
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peak of 93 million gallons at
the same time last year when
there was a daily 8-hour sup
ply in effect. The last sum
mer there was a round-the-clock
supply of water vas in
1957.
At the height of this sum
mer's crisis, authorities began
prosecuting persons caught
washing automobile or water
ing their rose beds. Ten large
tankers were hired to ferry
water from the mouth of the
nearby Pearl river flowing
down from the South China
city of Canton.
Two Major Projects
Within the colony itself,
there are at least two major
projects to increase the total
reservoir capacity from its
present 10V4 billion gallons.
The first is a land reser
voir on the virtually uninhab
ited island of Lantao, and the
second calls for creating a
sea -level reservoir by shut
ting off a cove in the nearby
New Territories by construct
ing a dam. The sea-level res
ervoir, which will not be in
operation before 1972, .will
have a total capacity of 30
billion gallons per day
through a complicated sys
tem of pipelines, some of
them under the sea.
The most famous pipeline
in the colony at this date,
Thornton May Sue
For Federal Funds
Salem -(UPD- The federal
government has withheld
more than $30,000 from three
Oregon state agencies and
Atty. Gen. Robert Y. Thorn
ton said his staff is consider
ing going to the U. S. Court
of Claims to try to get it.
Because of a dispute over
state gasoline tax rebates the
federal government claims it
is owed, the U. S. general ac
counting office has withheld
payment of more than $23,000
to the Oregon Fish commis
sion, nearly $6,000 from the
Oregon Game commission and
about $1,500 from the Slate
Highway commission.
however, is the one which
brings water into the New
Territories from across the
Red Chinese border.
Purchase Water
Under an agreement with
the Reds, Hong Kong pur
chases five billion gallons per
year from the mainland
Shumchun reservoir, paying
23.4 Hong Kong cents (about
four U.S. cents) per thousand
gallons. The water was orgin
ally offered free of charge.
But the British, spotting an
invitation to the exercise of
political pressure at some fu
ture date, insisted on contract
ing for the sale, rather than
for the gift, of the water.
The recent crisis led the
Hong Kong government to ex
plore the possibility of ex
tending the Shumchun pipe
line from its source In China
a further 45 miles to the
west, where it could capture
fresh water from the East riv
er. The Communists are re-'.
ported to be still considering
this idea, which would add
another 20 million gallons per
day to the colony's water sup
plies. Other Schemes
Other water - producing
schemes are further off. Hong
Kong has had nuclear distilla
tion schemes under study
since 1958, but they have
been too costly.
The crisis over water sup
plies has once again raised
the old question of Commu
nist China's leverage over
this tiny foreign enclave
which China probably could
capture without firing a shot.
But old Hong Kong hands
know what value a free Hong
Kong holds for Red China, in
terms of ' hard dollars and
cents in trade and in terms
of access to the great outside
world, especially in view of
Peking's quarrel with its
Russian neighbors
For this reason, authorities
here have no compunction
about increasingly drawing
their water supplies from that
vast hinterland which lies on
the other side of the Bamboo
curtain.
As long as Communist
China remains out of the
United Nations and has such
limited relations with the
other nations of the world,
Hong Kong has much more
value as a doorway to the
West than it would ever have
as just another city in China.
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