Tymon Mellor: In 1902 the Public Works Department embarked on the Tai Tam Tuk Scheme. This was divided into the First Section covering the construction of the Tai Tam Intermediate Reservoir and the Second Section for the main Tai Tam Tuk reservoir. The latter would become Hong Kong’s largest reservoir with a capacity greater than the total of all the […]
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IDJ has sent this 1997 article published on behalf of the HK Academy of Engineering Sciences and HK Institution of Engineers. “In 1989 Hong Kong Electric pioneered the introduction of mechanised tunnelling to Hong Kong, accepting the only bid that proposed the use of a tunnel boring machine for the construction of a 5.7 kilometre, 5 metre diameter cable tunnel […]
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IDJ has supplied the following article from a volume of “Wonders of World Engineering” edited by Clarence Winchester published in a 1938 or 39 edition. This goes into considerable detail about water supply problems in Hong Kong at that time especially on Hong Kong island, the resultant surveys undertaken to find a suitable location for a large reservoir. The selection of the […]
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James Chan: This advert from the Hongkong Government Gazette of 9th January 1886 caught my eye. Further investigation brought up the announcement shown below the advert, published in Australia and New Zealand, warning readers that Norman Electric was an “unmitigated fraud and swindle” and exposing one Emil Bassett of New York who was operating under the alias Marsh Bassett. I […]
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Tymon Mellor: The supply of fresh drinking water to the residents of Hong Kong has always been a challenge, not because the territory is particularly short of water, but because the continuously fast-growing demand has always out stripped supply. The first attempts to address this conundrum were taken in the 1860’s with the construction of the first water supply reservoir […]
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Tymon Mellor: If Government documents are to be believed, the inspiration for the Plover Cove Scheme came from the Director of Water Supplies, Mr T O Morgan while swimming in the sea at Plover Cove[i]. His idea was to convert the sea inlet into a fresh water reservoir by damming the inlet, pumping out the sea water and impounding fresh […]
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Tymon Mellor: Following the completion of Pok Fu Lam Reservoir in 1871, the City of Victoria (modern Central) had a secure water supply throughout the year. However, within a year it was already recognised that the supply would not meet the growing demands of the population. A number of proposals were prepared to develop the Tai Tam catchment and supply […]
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During WW2 CLP’s Hok Un Power Station was damaged both by Japanese and allied bombing. In December 1941 it was taken over by the Japanese at the start of their occupation. Elizabeth Ride has sent these British Army Aid Group (BAAG) reports about China Light and Power during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, WW2. Thanks to John Smith and Mark Regan […]
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Hong Kong Water Supply – The East River Scheme Tymon Mellor: Following the failure of the 1963 summer rains, it was clear that Hong Kong needed additional sources of drinking water. With no natural major rivers, the obvious choice was to extract water from the East River, some 60km north of Hong Kong (now known as the Dongjiang River) and […]
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Tymon Mellor: The year of 1921 was a good year for the growing population of Hong Kong Island; it would be the last year[i] until 1982 when there were no more water shortages[ii]. With the completion of the Tai Tam Tuk reservoir in 1917, doubling the total water capacity, the Colonial Government was confident there would be a sufficient water […]
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