James Chan: While walking around the Tai Tam reservoirs on 11th January 2018 I came across a sign on the Tai Tam Waterworks Heritage Trail, see below, which began: “Before the 1860s, Hong Kong relied on primitive sources such as wells and streams for its water supply. Although the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir, the first rainwater facility, was enlarged in […]
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HF: “The third reservoir in Hong Kong, the Wong Nai Chung Reservoir, was built at Tai Tam Reservoir Road in Wong Nai Chung in 1899. The reservoir dam followed the topography of the valley. It was 50 feet high, 270 feet long and was boomerang-shaped. The reservoir had a small water storage capacity of just 27 million gallons, only 38% […]
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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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Chris added the following information in a comment on 3rd May 2024. ”I asked the same question and received a reply from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (3rd May 2024). There is only one location that the FEHD is providing conservancy services (night soil collection): Temporary toilet at Po Chong Wan Temporary Area, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. It appears […]
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Tymon Mellor: We take for granted that when we turn a tap on clean water will flow. However, for the majority of Hong Kong’s colonial history, there were water shortages and supply restrictions. This was not a result of poor policy decisions but of changing circumstances, financial limitations and geographical constraints, and unlike other major conurbations, Hong Kong has no […]
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Tymon Mellor: The question was, “Who is Charles L Shank and what was his connection to the Shek Lai Pui Reservoir?”. A rather open question, but one that has led to an interesting journey. The questioner had acquired a large format book with 122 professional photographs of pre-war Hong Kong construction sites. Sample photographs provided documented the construction of the […]
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Tymon Mellor: With the rapidly increasing population in the post war Hong Kong, the availability of fresh water once more became a major problem. The poor financial situation had limited the territory’s options to overcome this, but after much discussion work commenced on Tai Lam Chung Reservoir in 1952. Before construction was complete, it was clear additional supplies would still […]
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Texaco began kerosene sales in Hong Kong and China in 1913 and Caltex began operating in Hong Kong in 1937 with a diesel terminal. This was situated in Tsuen Wan with the road leading to the terminal being named Texaco Road. The oil terminal was later moved to Tsing Yi island and the land plot in Tsuen Wan was developed into […]
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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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New information in red. Thomas Ngan recently posted these comments in response to the article, Lok On Pai “desalting” plant, 1975-1981. a) The main building still exists today. Only the chimneys and the generators have been demolished/removed. The lot has been occupied as a weekend/holiday flea market for quite a few years. Don’t know what might have happened in the […]
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