July 9 (Lunar calendar: May 22), 2023 Sunday | Dawnxisoul393art
The High Island Reservoir that Haunts Our Dreams:
Today we went to "High Island Reservoir" in Saigon to sketch and paint. We took the ferry from Mui Wo to Central, took the Hong Kong Island Line at Central MTR Station, after 6 stops, we arrived at North Point MTR Station, transferred to Tseung Kwan O Line, after 5 stops, we arrived at Hang Hau MTR Station, transferred to New Territories Minibus 101m, after 17 stops, we arrived at Sai Kung. We took bus 94 at Sai Kung Bus Terminus to reach the start of the first section of the MacLehose Trail and also the start of the High Island Reservoir. Hong Kong is a pleasant city to live in because it has not only a bustling metropolis, but also many well-planned hiking trails in the countryside, and the High Island Reservoir Trail is one of the famous ones. The first section of the MacLehose Trail is along the High Island Reservoir. The entire High Island Reservoir Trail was a well-tarmac road, where we could really experience the quiet and beautiful outlying island scenery.
Hong Kong's area is only more than 1100 square kilometers, and two-thirds of its land resources are protected and restricted from development. This has led to the concentration of more than 7 million people on the land with an area of less than 400 square kilometers, and the population density is very high. If only this part of the developed land is calculated, the population per square kilometer of the land will be close to 20000, and even 1.92 million people per square kilometer in the Kowloon Walled City of Hong Kong, the most densely populated residential area. What a large population brings is a large consumption of resources, especially water resources. Hong Kong is a mountainous terrain close to the sea. Although it is said that there is an abundant rainwater supply, there is always a shortage of water resources in the dry season. Before the commercial development of Hong Kong, the inhabitants of the area relied on water from streams and wells to live. However, with the explosive growth of population after the opening of the port, such water sources could not meet the needs of a large number of people, which required the government to find new water sources.
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In 1860, the government built Hong Kong's first artificial reservoir - Pokfulam reservoir at the exit of Pokfulam valley. This reservoir can store 260000 cubic meters of freshwater resources. However, after the completion of the reservoir in 1863, it was found that the design capacity three years ago could not meet the use of the new population. Therefore, the Hong Kong government began to build its second reservoir - Tai Tam reservoir... By the 1960s, 16 water supply reservoirs had been built in Hong Kong. In the 1860s, the water resources crisis in Hong Kong became more and more serious. In particular, Hong Kong suffered a serious drought in 1963. The inventory of 16 reservoirs was in urgent need, and the domestic water of 3.5 million Hong Kong residents at that time could not be guaranteed. At this time, people suddenly realized that Hong Kong had no more land to build more and larger reservoirs.
The Hong Kong government set its sights on the ocean. Hong Kong's coastline is very tortuous, with many bays (which is also the most important geographical advantage for Hong Kong to become a world-class port). So can the two ends of these "U" shaped bays be connected to the dam to make it a closed water storage area? So the Hong Kong government began its initial attempt to build a reservoir in the middle of the ocean with the main dam of 2,100 meters and a secondary dam of more than 200 meters in the bay inside the Plover Cove Country Park in the eastern part of Hong Kong. This reservoir is Plover Cove Reservoir. It is also the first reservoir built in the sea in the world. After the completion of water storage in 1968, its storage capacity reached 230 million cubic meters, 150 million cubic meters more than the total of 16 drinking water reservoirs built at that time. Such construction could not only alleviate the problem of water use but also make full use of sufficient marine resources and reduce the use of land resources.
Therefore, in 1970, the Hong Kong government began to build High Island Reservoir in the southeast of Plover Cove Reservoir. Although the water storage area of the project could not match that of Plover Cove Reservoir, the height of the dam is much higher than that of Plover Cove Reservoir (up to 107 meters), so it's water storage is 22% more than that of Plover Cove Reservoir, reaching 281 million cubic meters. These two reservoirs in the ocean have a total storage capacity of more than 500 million cubic meters, accounting for more than 87% of the total storage of drinking fresh water in Hong Kong. They are truly "Big Macs" at sea. The High Island Reservoir was the most expensive public works project in Hong Kong in the 1970s. When High Island Reservoir was completed in 1978, HK $1.35 billion was spent. The construction process of the High Island Reservoir flooded many villages. For the first time, the government has changed the division of local administrative regions in response to the needs of public works projects. It has divided the New Territories South York District Office into Sai Kung District Office and Islands District Office, which has also become the most extensive country park in Hong Kong.
Illustrated by dawnxisoul393
The original site of the reservoir is Kwun Mun Waterway, which is a reservoir built in the sea together with Plover Cove Reservoir. The project includes the construction of two main dams at both ends of Kwun Mun Waterway to connect Sai Kung mainland and High Island, the third largest island in Hong Kong. These two dams are up to 64 meters high, and there are three auxiliary dams. High Island Reservoir consists of two dams, east dam, and west dam. The dam closes both ends of the Strait, forming a huge reservoir, and the project is quite huge. The overall building heights of the east dam and the west dam are 104 meters and 90 meters respectively. The east dam was completed in 1978. At that time, it was the highest rockfill dam in the world. The downstream of the east dam faces the Pacific Ocean. Engineers tried to defend against the surging waves and consolidate the building structure. A breakwater composed of 7000 huge anchor stones has been added, which is unique. Watching the sunrise against the humid sea breeze on the dam has a special taste. East dam and Po Pin Chau are surrounded by strange hexagonal columnar tuff with extraordinary momentum.
The most interesting and special thing about High Island Reservoir is the origin of its name. High Island is its English name, and High Island's Hong Kong Cantonese is Man Yee. At the bottom of High Island Reservoir, there was a village called Man Yee Village. In order to commemorate Man Yee Village submerged by the construction of the reservoir, the reservoir is named Man Yee Reservoir (High Island Reservoir). Daniel went to High Island Reservoir for the first time more than ten years ago. Two years ago, we went back to High Island Reservoir and also visited the Volcano Exploration Museum in Hong Kong UNESCO World Geopark. The Geopark in Hong Kong covers an area of 49.85 hectares. It is the world's smallest Geopark, but it has world-class acid volcanic rock columns. The average diameter of hexagonal stone columns is 1.2 meters and the number is about 200000. It is rare in the world in terms of scale and rock characteristics. It shows a geological history of sedimentary environment formed by sedimentation during the Paleozoic. Hong Kong Geopark has been listed in the list of World Geoparks by UNESCO. It has become a rare world-class Geopark in an international metropolis.
Illustrated by dawnxisoul393
The weather is beautiful, the autumn is clear and sunny. Between the first and second floors of East Dam, we pushed Dawnxi's stroller, sketched and painted while walking. We were accompanied by blue water all the way and felt the fun of hiking in the countryside. Inside the dam was the blue water of High Island Reservoir, and outside the dam was the blue water of the sea. Standing on the breakwater looking at the sea, we really sighed that this was the color of the sea, so blue. Thanks to the autumn weather, the sky was transparent and there was yellow cattle grazing leisurely on the grass not far away. We couldn't forget the fresh and humid sea breeze with the smell of the sea, blowing our hairs, cheeks, and every part of our bodies...
Original by dawnxisoul393
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