'File 5/1 I Mineral and oil deposits in Kuwait territory: surveys' [‎9r] (17/216)

town, the demand for buildings has increased to such an extent that masons’,
carpenters’ and coolies’ wages have nearly doubled as has also the cost of materials,
such as bricks, stone, “ juss,” rafters and other wood. The shortage of water has
been so severe that some of the old wells have been re-opened and the brackish
water from them sold not infrequently at the rate of $ 1 (Re. 1-8) or more for two
skins, containing together not more than 20 gallons.
5. To meet the water difficulty, and probably with an eye to profit himself,
the Shaikh ordered from England a water-tank steamer of 300 tons capacity.
The vessel has not yet arrived though expected shortly, but as 300 tons represents
some 18,000 kerosine tins (the universal water measure) it will be seen that with
only one trip in three or four days, which is the utmost she can attempt, her pre
sence will not go far towards alleviating the present difficulty, even assuming her to
work regularly without delays or break down. Moreover, the difficulty tends to
increase rapidly owing to the steady increase of population and the fact that many
of the poorer classes, who once drank brackish water “ faute de mieux,” having
now become accustomed to sweet river water no longer consider potable that
with which they were formerly satisfied. Further, there are indications that the
trr.de of the town is attracting to it merchants and others of the better class from
Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. and Persia, a fact which tends to raise the standard of comfort
and so produce an ever-growing demand for a plentiful supply of good water.
I trust that the above paragraphs have made it clear that there is at the moment
a really urgent need for a good water-supply and that any method contemplated
must take into account a far larger demand in the near future than is at present
apparent.
6. I will now turn to the Shaikh’s requirements. The subject has frequently
come up in conversation with him, and I have discussed the relative merits and
possibilities, so far as I was able to as a layman, of a large condensing plant utilis
ing sea-water, such as I believe is installed at Aden, and of artesian well-borings.
These are the alternatives the Shaikh contemplates in his letter, for no other system
of water-supply seems possible in a sandy flat waste which could not become a
catchment area even if the uncertain rainfall of some 6 to 9 inches per annum
could suffice to provide an adequate amount of water.
7. The Shaikh having heard of the condensing plant at Aden is inclined to
favour that particular method. The main objections to a large condensing plant
(it would have to supply the wants of a town whose population is at present esti
mated at between 40,000 and 50,000 souls) are, however
{a) Heavy initial cost in buildings, machinery, etc.
(b) Heavy recurring cost of fuel, whether coal or oil; an oil-fuel plant would
appear to be the more economical, if suitable fuel at a cheap rate
became available from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company at Abadan.
(c) The maintenance of and the high cost in wages of the necessary com
petently trained staff, which would have to be imported, for local
labour would be difficult to train beyond the grade of fireman.
(d) It is a question whether the pure water produced by a condensing plant
could be sold cheaply enough to make its use universal. At present
Shatt-al-Arab river water is sold at annas 1| for a kerosine-tin full
(4 gallons) plus carriage to house.
8 If artesian well-borings can find water in the vicinity of the town, most
of the above objections seem likely to disappear ipso facto. I do not know
whether the geological formation near Kuwait is favourable or otherwise to the
project but the existence of fresh-water springs under the sea at various places
along the coast, and the absence of any running water on the land-surface draining
the flat deserts of the west and south would argue that there must be water-bear
ing strata below that from which the existing shallow surface-wells draw their
meagre supplies. Some conversation which I had with a Mr. Shaw, who has estab
lished himself at Basrah as a consulting Engineer, has led me to think that pro-
bablv Artesian wells would offer the cheapest and most satisfactory method of
supplying Kuwait with water. Mr. Shaw, who is a British subject, trained in
America, where he had some experience in Artesian well-boring, gave me to under
stand that a 4-inch well properly cased, with all the drilling machinery, etc., would
cost for 400 to 500 feet depth some £500 for the first bore, subsequent bores of
course being much cheaper as the drilling plant would be available for them. 1