The Water Supplies Department has proposed installing a fence and CCTV to prevent people bathing in the popular Shui Lo Cho ‘infinity pool’ near Yi O.
The scenic pool on Lantau’s west coast has become a popular tourist spot but, along with the Shek Pik Reservoir, it is the source of Tai O’s drinking water.
In a paper to the Islands District Council, the department noted that since 2014, the council, the Tai O Rural Committee and local residents had become “concerned about the problem of polluted water quality” brought about by illegal swimming.
Swimmer-proof fence (Source: WSD)
It proposed building a fence and installing CCTV to monitor visitors and to aid law enforcement and prosecution.
Under the Waterworks Ordinance any person who enters the water commits an offence, with penalties of up to HK$50,000 and two years’ prison
Since 2014, 15 people have been convicted.
The Water Supplies Department says it needs to double the size of its north Lantau water treatment plant to cope with the development of Tung Chung and the airport district.
It proposes boosting the capacity of the Siu Ho Wan Water Treatment Works from 150,000 cubic metres a day to 300,000 cubic metres daily.
The department has not indicated how much the expansion plan will cost, but it will seek funds from the Legislative Council for research and design early next year and then carry out a study, Oriental Daily reports.
Construction is expected to start in 2021 and will be completed in 2025.
As well as expanding the Siu Ho Wan plant, it will install a pipe along South Lantau Road to increase the flow of water from Shek Pik Reservoir, and build a booster station to improve supply from Tai Lam Chung Reservoir. It will also increase the capacity of the Pui Oi pumping station.
Under the Tung Chung extension plan its population is expected to increase from approximately 80,000 today to 268,000 in the mid-2020s.
Twenty years after the first residents moved in, Tung Chung households are still flushing their toilets with drinking water and will be for at least six more years.
Currently all of Tung Chung’s 80,000 population uses freshwater from the Shek Pik and Tai Lam Chung reservoirs for flushing, in contrast to the use of saltwater in most of the city.
Pipes to carry saltwater have been installed but a pumping station won’t be built until reclamation for the Tung Chung East development has been completed in approximately 2023.
At an Islands District Council meeting last month, a senior Water Supplies Dept (WSD) engineer acknowledged that the pipes have been in place for many years.
District Councillor Eric Kwok, who raised the issue, said he had been told by the Water Supplies Dept (WSD) in 2009 that the pipes were already installed and asked why a temporary pumping station had not been built.
The WSD engineer said the original plan was to build the pumping station in the land reclamation area, but this was cancelled because the scale and planning for the new development changed.
He said WSD was working with Civil Engineering and Development Dept to make sure a pumping station, salt water service reservoir and pipes would be a part of Tung Chung reclamation and expansion. This was forecast to be complete in approximately 2023.
WSD told Legco last year that 345,000 of Hong Kong’s 2.5 million households, mostly in remote New Territories or islands districts, are still using freshwater flushing.
In a new report on local water supply, think tank Civic Exchange said Hong Kong was one of the world’s highest per capita consumers of water, with steep growth in demand since 1990. It says despite abundant rainfall the city is “actually more water scarce than parts of the Middle East.”
Photo: Shek Pik Reservoir (Lantau News)
Water supply in South Lantau has returned to normal after a burst water main left three villages without water for more than a day.
The pipe burst at around 6am Sunday morning, disrupting service to several hundred households in Cheung Sha, Tong Fuk and Shui Hau.
Water Supplies Department dispatched a team to the area and switched off all local water supply at 8am. The team worked through the night to restore the service by 10am today, a spokesperson said.
The initial reports of loss of supply came from Cheung Sha, but the fault was eventually identified near Shui Hau. The cause of the failure is now being investigated, although it may have been an ageing pipe, the spokesperson added.
The department also sent four water wagons and 15 mobile water tanks to provide temporary supply to the villagers.
Water supply was restored to Tung Chung this morning after government staff repaired a burst pipe that had cut supply to the whole district.
A burst pipe at Sheung Ling Pei between Yu Tung Rd and Tung Chung Rd cut drinking water to Tung Chung New Town and surrounding villages at noon Tuesday.
Among the premises affected was North Lantau Hospital. A spokesperson told Apple Daily it had ample supply of water from its backup water tank. The Water Supplies Department (WSD) also sent a water truck to the hospital.
The 150mm-diameter pipe between on the edge of Tung Chung was part of the main pipe that supplied the town and therefore impacted the entire suburb. WSD staff restored supply at 6am today.
Meanwhile, some Discovery Bay residents were without flushing water for up to two days after a pipe burst on Sunday.
Lantau Confidential 