Hong Kong water
Sir: Despite the attraction at first sight of C. D. Howard-Johnston's plan (Letters, 22 July) to maintain the stocks of Hong Kong water if the supplies from the mainland were cut off, the practical difficulties, alas, would be insuperable.
Assuming that a correct estimate has been made of water needs, the number of tankers required to provide 50,000 tons of water daily depends, apart from the size of the tankers, upon the distance of the source of supply from Hong Kong. Malaysia might be a possible source, over 1,400 nautical miles distant, or Australia, even further away. A fair number of tankers would be needed to maintain such a service.
Apart from the prodigious expense, there is another, crucial, difficulty. We found to our cost many years ago in Gibraltar, where a tanker-load of fresh water is occasionally required, that the only tankers able to carry potable water and maintain its purity during a long sea passage are new tankers which have not yet been used for the carriage of oil; such a tanker had to be sought months in adv- ance. These vessels are built to order and contracted for the carriage of oils, there- fore they can only be utilised for the carriage of potable water when on the initial delivery voyage.
Sadly, it can thus be seen that it is quite impracticable to obtain the new tankers necessary in order to maintain reliable supplies of potable water to Hong Kong in the circumstances envisaged. Little notice could be expected of such an occurrence. Even in the unlikely event that the Gov- ernment was prepared specially to build the ships, there would be a water shortage in Hong Kong before the keels were laid.
R. L. Rickard
12 Bowden Close, Coombe Dingle, Bristol
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