File 4648/1912 'Railway projects in South Persia; surveys of Gulf ports' [‎35v] (75/258)

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A
used solely by the inhabitants of the village, who obtain scanty crops
^ vegetables and meLs from them . The so-called N.aband wells from whic'h
°he inhabitants of the town obtain their best drinking water are s.mply surface
wells dug in the sand about halfway between the v‘l age of Niaband and the
4.:^ font nf the. Khwaiata wells. All these surface wells
water at the bottom ; they
sea — a continuation in fact of the Khwajata
about four feet deep with a foot or two ot
are
refill
rapidly however, when exhausted. As long as this depth is not exceeded the
supply is drinkable but directly any attempt is made to obtain more water by
deepening the wells the supply turns brackish The water from the surface
wells at Niaband maybe described as good for this part of the world though
a slight brackishness is usually perceptible. The Khwajata wells are decidedly
brackish and only drinkable by the local people. Surface wells can be dug
almost anywhere along the shore and water will be found ; there seems to be
no fixed source of supply, and I imagine that this is simply surface drainage
from the low hills to the north of the town. As this water seems to pome from
no definite source it would presumably be impossible to pipe any of it into the
town; I doubt if it would suffice for a much larger population than the present;
and as it would have to be carried in on the backs of men or animals as at
present it would hardly meet the requirements of a large port. Moreover, it i s
not absolutely sweet, and I may mention that I always get water from the mail
steamers for my own household and never drink Niaband water. It will be
necessary, therefore, to go further afield for a permanent supply.
I have during the past winter travelled along the coast both to the east
and to the west in the hope of finding some source whence water could be
piped into the town. To the west there is no possible source of supply; the
villages along the Clarence Straits depend almost entirely on rainwater collected
in “ birkehs ” for their water; when this fails they are reduced to well water,
but even the local inhabitants complain of this source of supply, which is brackish
in the extreme, and I was unable to discover any springs except two tiny trickles
near Puhal, which were both distinctly brackish and altogether insufficient in
quantity to be of any practical use. To the eastward, however, there are several
small streams which run down from the Kuh-i'Shamil to the sea : near Bandar
Abbas these streams are very salt, but further to the east their quality improves.
The first stream is encountered about nine miles from Bandar Abbas, and is
known as the Rudkaneh-i-Shur, an apt name : it is saturated with salt. Beyond
the village of Kalkazi, however, about 24 miles from Bandar Abbas there are two
streams, the Rudkhaneh-i-Godu and Rudkhaneh-i-Tukht ; their waters are good
for this country and would be drinkable even by Europeans, though not perhaps
with relish. They would, however, do very well for domestic and municipal
requirements, etc. Proceeding further east I came to the village of Nehu, at
the extreme east of the Kuh-i-Shamil, 40 miles from Bandar Abbas, ant*' here
at length I found a source of supply which would, I should imagine, amply
suffice for a populaticJn considerably greater than that of the existing town,
at any rate for drinking purposes. There are at Nehu three springs of excel
lent water, which are at present utilised for turning some mills and for date
cultivation. This supply has the further great advantage that it can be piped
in from the source and would, therefore, be free from contamination. The pipe
line would run across a flat plain, and would present no particular difficulties.
I was unfortunately not competent to gauge the exact volume of discharge, but
1 , with the development of the port, the Nehu supply proved insufficient, the
Uodu and I ukht streams could be piped in and utilised for domestic purposes,
gardens, etc., the Nehu water being reserved for drinking.
... ^ ail ' n f this ’ ‘'j 6 on, y o^er place from which water could be piped in is
ar “ have bee " ablet0 ascertain. The Minab water is
nnsciiilp tn 6 . St ^ nC i, e ' S S re . ater ' being about 55 miles, and it would not be
fiver riv* 0 - tbe ^.PP'y trom contamination in the same way, as the Minab
river rises ,n the Rudan hills and flows past several hamlets.
To sum up
(i) The existing sources of supply, viz., “ birkehs ” and surface wells are
port n ° US reasons unsu ^ e d to form the water-supply of a large
*