Construction of new filtration plant, Stubbs Road, Hong Kong Island, 1949

IDJ has kindly sent the following article extracted from the Hong Kong Sunday Herald of 31st July 1949. This adds a new aspect to the history of water supply in Hong Kong on the website which has been to date mainly articles about reservoirs, see below.

Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article.

Modern Filter Beds Under Construction

Modern filter beds – 8,000,000 gallons a day rapid gravity filtration plan – are being built off Stubbs Road at the junction of Wongnaichong Gap Road.
When completed the Colony’s filter bed capacity, however, will be the same as it is today.

It was learned yesterday that the new filter beds which will be under cover are merely a regrouping and modernisation of the existing inefficient beds at Eastern, Bowen Road and Albany.
The building at present under construction off Stubbs Road will house modern pumping and filtering equipment.
The Colony today has 11 filter plants – nine on the Island and two on the Mainland [sic] with a total capacity of 41,000,000 gallons daily.
Government has not yet prepared any plans to increase the capacity, it was officially learned.

It was stated that the new modern beds, being built off Stubbs Road, should be completed by October. They are not additional but replacement of other out of date filter beds.

System Inadequate

The existing water supply system – storage filtration and distribution – is inadequate for the present population of Hong Kong.
During the restricted water supply period, daily consumption was 30,000,000 gallons. This increased to 45,000,000 gallons daily when the restrictions were removed.
As the total maximum daily capacity of Hong Kong’s filter beds is 41,000,000 gallons, restrictions have been re-imposed.
Total capacity of existing reservoirs is 5,970,000,000 gallons of which 2,302,000,000 are on the Island.
Investigations have been started for a new source of supply in Tai Lam Chung Valley on the Mainland.[sic]
The authorities hope to double the Colony’s water resource within the next 10 years.

Source: Hong Kong Sunday Herald 31st July 1949

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This article was first posted on 21st May 2020.

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