Water

We need water in every aspect of our daily lives, not just for drinking and washing, but for food production, industry, recreation and for the ecosystem.  Water is the resource we will fight about first, water is life, and our supply of water has an absolute limit.  Even if you factor in hidden underground water reserves, there is only so much available.  As population grows, demand grows, but the quantity does not. In fact the amount of fresh water is decreasing as pollution renders an increasing proportion of the freshwater unavailable to us.

Hong Kong has a fascinating history with water.  We have never been self-sufficient, with only 25% of current demand being met by what we can capture and store in our reservoirs.   We were not able to meet demand until the mid 1980’s when the cross-border Dongjiang water supply was agreed and implemented.

Water is very much at the heart of the Hong Kong identity.  Not just in the name.  It has dictated the size and location of the earliest settlements in Hong Kong, it has shaped much of our early infrastructure and given us a legacy of catch-water paths and country parks.  It has been a key social driver, health issue (disease and settlement) and a key political element in conflicts between the British and the Chinese both the early colonial period and in the 1960’s riots.

Based on current population, reducing demand for fresh water is the only option for a sustainable future, and that will require a high degree of personal sacrifice and commitment.