One river, two systems? Only ‘holistic management’ can save Hong Kong’s natural waterways, academic warns

The combination of untamed river banks and lush green overhang are a fitting backdrop for Bin Mo Bridge, an ancient slab of stone that has connected villagers from Shui Mei Tsuen and Kam Tin since the reign of Qing emperor Kangxi.

While the structure has stood the test of time, the river that runs below it, despite all the natural features it retains, has not. Once part of the winding ravines of a wild Kam Tin River, it has since been cut off following years of training, channelling, widening and straightening in the main body.

Rivers like this one have been reduced to shallow, isolated meanders that neither feed nor nourish. Flows have slowed to a trickle. The water appears clean, but there is minimal ecology.

“The river may look beautiful in pictures. But stand here long enough and you will realise how smelly and dirty it is,” says long-time Shui Mei Tsuen resident Mrs Leung.

“It’s such a waste that they’re not doing anything to protect the river because it is an icon in our village. There’s a lot the government can do to improve it but right now, they might as well just fill it because there is just no life in it.”

One veteran environmentalist and geographer says the city’s weak and fragmented river basin management – or a lack thereof – has sapped such watercourses of their ecological potential at a time where the government claims to be making moves to promote biodiversity.