The Aberdeen Reservoirs are a group of two reservoirs, consisting of the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir () and the Lower Aberdeen Reservoir (), in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Hong Kong.

History

The Aberdeen Reservoirs were built to augment

Pok Fu Lam Reservoir Pok Fu Lam Reservoir, formerly known as the Pokefulum Reservoir, is the first reservoir in Hong Kong. It is located in a valley in Pok Fu Lam. History Before the completion of the reservoir in 1863, the people in the city got their water by ...

in providing water supply to the west of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

. The Lower Aberdeen Reservoir, with a capacity of , was originally a private reservoir owned by Tai Shing Paper Factory, built in 1890, which also provided water to nearby residents. The

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

bought the reservoir at a price of

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...

460,000 and expanded it to a capacity of 486,000 cu m. At the same time, the Government built a new reservoir with a capacity of 773,000 cu m above the original one, increasing the total capacity to 1,259,000 cu m. The reservoirs were officially opened on 15 December 1931 by

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...

William Peel, becoming the fourth and last reservoir group ever built on

, after

Pok Fu Lam Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay. Pok Fu Lam can claim several ''firsts'' in the histo ...

Tai Tam Tai Tam or ''Tytam'' is an area in Southern District on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Tai Tam means a ''big pool'' in the Chinese language which illustrates a triangular bay, namely Tai Tam Bay between Stanley Peninsula, D'Aguilar Peak ...

and Wong Nai Chung. In 1977, a 4.23 square kilometre area around the reservoir was designated as

Aberdeen Country Park Aberdeen Country Park is located on the south end of Hong Kong Island near the area called Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Much of the south side of the island is underdeveloped and retains more of the rural feel that predominated on the island before it ...

, one of the earliest

country parks in Hong Kong Out of the total 1,092 km2 of Hong Kong land, three-quarters is countryside, with various landscapes including beaches, woodlands, and mountain ranges being found within the small territory. Most of Hong Kong's parks have abundant natural dive ...

. A total of 41 pre-World War II waterworks structures located in six reservoir areas, namely

, Tai Tam Group of Reservoirs,

Wong Nai Chung Reservoir Wong Nai Chung Reservoir Park is a park and artificial lake in the Wong Nai Chung Gap, Wong Nai Chung, Hong Kong, located near Hong Kong Parkview. It was formerly Wong Nai Chung Reservoir (), a closed reservoir in Hong Kong. Background Wong ...

, Kowloon Reservoir, Shing Mun (Jubilee) Reservoir and Aberdeen Reservoir, were declared as monuments in September 2009; the dam, a valve house and a bridge of the Aberdeen Upper Reservoir and a dam of the Aberdeen Lower Reservoir were declared as monuments in 2009.

References

{{coord, 22, 15, 24.81, N, 114, 9, 47.62, E, type:waterbody, display=title Reservoirs in Hong Kong Aberdeen, Hong Kong Declared monuments of Hong Kong