Why Hong Kong shouldn't take clean, plentiful water for granted
Martin Williams goes underground and behind closed doors with Hong Kong's water engineers for a look at how they maintain supplies of fresh, clean water, and considers the past and future of the city's water management
Easily overlooked, Tower X, a concrete cylinder that's perhaps as wide as a bus is long and mostly submerged, is topped by a concrete dome and narrow brim, shaped like a hat a Catholic priest might wear.
Usually, the tower - which is on the south shore of High Island Reservoir, east of Sai Kung town, and named after its designation on Water Supplies Department (WSD) maps - is off-limits to the public, but I'm visiting with a small WSD team that includes engineer Patrick Fan Kwok-ning. Entry is made along a footbridge and through two steel doors. Inside, we cross the concrete floor to the edge of a rectangular opening, where I lean on a metal railing and look down through the tower's waterless interior.
World Water Day: why Hong Kong should not be complacent about this most vital of resources
"It's 60 metres to the bottom," Fan says. Perhaps 60 metres doesn't sound that many, but picture being 12 storeys or more up a building and looking down an empty lift shaft. There are lights below, yet even while leaning - cautiously - forward, I can't clearly make out the base of the tower. Steep flights of metal steps lead down the side of the shaft, reaching a succession of floors on which there is little but massive water pipes - four in all, each 1.7 metres in diameter. These take water from the reservoir to a pipe leading through and around the hills to a pumping station near Tai Po Market, and from there to the network that supplies the thirsty city.
It's all too easy to turn on a tap, shower and take the flow of water into our homes for granted. Yet Hong Kong's water supply has been vital to the city's development while also transforming the landscape and enriching the experience for those who take their leisure outdoors.
As Guangdong's Dongjiang (East River), the source of between 70 and 80 per cent of Hong Kong's water, comes under increasing pressure, I'm visiting High Island Reservoir to learn a little about how the city is trying to safeguard its supplies - and a surprise awaits deep within the massive east dam.
Hong Kong needs a fresh policy on water before the taps run dry
