Tseung Kwan O Desalination Plant to be commissioned tomorrow

The Water Supplies Department (WSD) announced on Thursday that the first stage of the Tseung Kwan O Desalination Plant (TKODP) will be commissioned for supplying water on Friday.

Once the waterworks enter full operation, the TKODP will meet around 5 percent of the overall freshwater demand in Hong Kong, with a water production capacity of 135,000 cubic meters per day.

The TKODP, together with the Pak Kong Water Treatment Works and the Tseung Kwan O Primary Fresh Water Service Reservoir, will supply drinking water to Sai Kung as well as parts of East Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

The WSD spokesman stated that the TKODP is the first waterworks to use reverse osmosis desalination technology, where pre-treated seawater will pass through a membrane that allows fresh water to pass through but retains salts and impurities.

The desalinated seawater will then undergo post-treatment procedures to produce drinking water fully meeting Hong Kong Drinking Water Standards on par with the quality of water supplied by other water treatment works in Hong Kong.

There will be real-time monitoring of the whole treatment process.

The WSD has started the preliminary design for the second stage of the plant, and the adjacent site is also set aside for future expansion, with a water production capacity that will meet around 10 percent of the overall freshwater demand in Hong Kong.