Salt Water Supply System for Pok Fu Lam Area Whole Project Award

Project Team
Client: Water Supplies Department, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Designer: Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Limited
Contractor: Law Chi Yip Construction Company Limited

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Project summary

The Salt Water Supply System for Pok Fu Lam Area is a design and construction supervision assignment (the Project) commissioned by the Water Supplies Department (WSD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, for a new salt water supply system serving the Pok Fu Lam area of Hong Kong Island. The Project was commissioned in July 2007. Upon completion of the Project, the system will supply salt water, instead of fresh water for flushing, to the Pok Fu Lam area every day and is expected to save substantial amount of fresh water a day.

The Project aims at providing a new salt water supply system serving the Pok Fu Lam area. The Project comprises the following:

• construction of Telegraph Bay Salt Water Pumping Station (TBSWPS) and the associated sea water intake culvert at Telegraph Bay seafront area;
• construction of Wah Fu Salt Water Service Reservoir (WFSWSR) near Wah Fu Estate;
• construction of Wah Fu Salt Water Pumping Station (WFSWPS) near Wah Fu Estate;
• construction of Pok Fu Lam Salt Water Service Reservoir (PFLSWSR) on the hill behind Pok Fu Lam Village;
• laying of the associated salt water mains; and
• all the associated civil, structural, geotechnical, electrical and mechanical works including site formation, rock excavation, landscaping, permanent and temporary accesses which are necessary for the completion of the works as listed above.

Challenges faced and Achievements

People and Communities

The project's nature itself is creating wider social benefits by reducing potable water consumption. Public facilities were improved by incorporating part of the open space of the Telegraph Bay site into the adjacent Cyberport Park for amenity purpose.

A number of consultation meetings were held by the Client, Designer and Contractor with different parties during the different phases of the Project, including the District Council members and the residents in the District to inform them on the potential impacts of the Project.

Potential effects on neighbours were identified by conducting various impact assessments during construction and operational stage including noise pollution, air pollution, water quality, waste, cultural heritage, landscape and visual and ecology. Various measures were incorporated into the construction and operational processes to mitigate effects on neighbours on visual, dust, and noise.
In particular, the use of acoustic roller shutter in the pump hall demonstrated the use of innovative solutions for nuisance mitigation in minimising the noise impact to the nearby area. The selection of external finish of the Telegraph Bay Salt Water Pumping Station allows the pumping station to blend in to the adjacent development.

Pok Fu Lam Salt Water Service Reservoir

The Historic Environment

Although there are no archaeological remains within the development area, four masonry bridges located at the main access road to the Pok Fu Lam site were identified. Soon after the commencement of the Project, these bridges were announced as Declared Monuments and the Project was suspended to carry out protection measures to the bridges. Temporary bridge mitigation works were put in place to minimise damage, including adding structural support by steel and also controlling the traffic of heavy vehicle trucks during construction. The protection works to the bridges was performed by professional structural engineer and monitored by historian professional from the statutory organisation.

The four masonry bridges

To what extent did the use of CEEQUAL influence your project?

The CEEQUAL assessment has provided an opportunity for us to measure the sustainability of this project and compare it with other projects. We have adopted the lessons learned from this assessment and are investigating on how to improve the sustainability performance of our future projects.

Telegraph Bay Salt Water Pumping Station	Wah Fu Salt Water Pumping Station and Service Reservoir