HF: See added extract from a report at the end of this article regarding suggested reason for the final demise of the salt industry in Tai O which had probably been in existence (at least in HK) from about the 3rd century BC. 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of Shek Pik Reservoir on Lantau island. It was […]
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IDJ and Hugh Farmer have been trying to find out about a power company that is supposed to have existed in Tai O on Lantau Island. China Light and Power’s website says that in 1955 the company acquired the Tai O Power Company “which supplies power to Lantau Island”. IDJ says “I’ve not heard of the Tai O Power Company […]
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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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IDJ: For anyone looking towards the west from around 1966 onwards, the Tsing Yi Power Station site was an increasingly prominent feature of the harbor view. As the five tall concrete chimneys were built progressively from 1968 onwards, no one could fail to see them against the backdrop of the hills on the island. An illustrated brochure was handed out […]
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IDJ: To obtain an electricity supply in Hong Kong customers have to sign up with either China Light & Power Co Ltd or the Hong Kong Electric Co Ltd. However, in the years before 1984 the residents of Cheung Chau Island were supplied from their own independent power station operated by the Cheung Chau Electric Company Co Ltd which had […]
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Tymon Mellor: The acquisition of Kowloon was primarily undertaken as a military exercise, but with it came the responsibility to provide fresh water for the existing population and the new large military contingent. The solution was to establish a number of wells and an associated rudimentary water distribution system, elements of which can still be seen today. The first official […]
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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: In the 1870’s as Hong Kong, or more precisely the city of Victoria, expanded, it was a continual challenge to supply water to the growing population and new industries. Whilst the western portion of the city could utilise the new water supply from the new Pok Fu Lam reservoir, everything east of the “Clock Tower” in Pedder Street […]
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Additional information plus several images added. Special thanks to IDJ. Contributors: Amelia Allsop, HF and IDJ. Amelia kindly personally sent the two drawn images shown here and gave permission for other images to be used in this article. Amelia was, at that time, the Manager – Research and Business Communications, at the Hong Kong Heritage Project. In 1903 China Light […]
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HF: According to a 2013 Enviromental Protection Department report all three landfill sites in Hong Kong will be full by 2019. The creation of waste and its disposal have obviously been happening since people first settled in the area now known as Hong Kong though with a considerable increase in recent times. A huge subject then that I approach with […]
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