How parched 1950s Hong Kong got welcome relief from the new Tai Lam Chung Reservoir
- The first reservoir to be built in Hong Kong following the second world war, it was the largest in the colony
- The provision of additional water supply cost HK$130 million
“Water begins flowing from Tai Lam Chung,” read a headline in the South China Morning Post on March 8, 1957.
“Water from the Tai Lam Chung dam was sent through the supply network, from the Tsuen Wan Filtration Plant, when Lady Patricia personally turned open a valve,” the story continued, describing the inauguration of the HK$130 million Tai Lam Chung Reservoir, presided over by the wife of Secretary of State for Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd.
The turning of the valve, allowing some of the 1.5 billion gallons of water from the reservoir to flow into Hong Kong homes, was a significant step towards alleviating the decades-long water shortage faced by the city’s three million residents.
“This will afford a welcome relief to the Colony’s dwindling resources at the end of this dry season,” Lady Patricia said of the reservoir, the first to be built in Hong Kong following the second world war and the largest in the colony at the time, which would ultimately hold 4.5 billion gallons of water.
