The principal functions and duties of the then Water Affairs section were:
	To determine a national policy for the optimal development of available water resources and schemes, an economical water supply from elsewhere if necessary, and optimal utilisation of the country’s available water; To commission and to employ suitable, qualified professional engineers to design and supervise the construction of all the necessary installations, dams, reservoirs, storage, pipelines, other waterworks, the necessary sewerage, effluent, disposal systems and other facilities, and water reclamation systems for the desired purification of the effluents; and To undertake all scientific and engineering investigations, studies, surveys and experiments relating to water matters such as rainfall, run-off, loss through evaporation, land erosion, the quality of water found underground and on the surface, and methods of purifying and utilising water for domestic, agricultural and industrial use.
Reports on the geological setting of available ground waters, the quantities, the potability or non-potability of such water in every district and the different geophysical methods of siting water boreholes in various terrains were compiled. More than 40 boreholes were sited and drilled.