| Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS) Stage 1 |
| |
| Q1 What is HATS Stage 1? top |
| |
| The HATS is a major Government initiative to improve the water quality in Victor Harbour. HATS Stage 1 mainly consists of the construction of a 23.6 km long tunnel conveyance system for transferring sewage from Kowloon urban area and the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island to a centralized chemically enhanced primary treatment works at Stonecutters Island for treatment. It also includes a 1.7 km long, 5m-diameter outfall tunnel and a 1.2 km long diffuser pipeline. Costing $8.2 billion, works of HATS Stage 1 started in 1994 and have fully commissioned in late 2001, serving a population of 3.5 million people. |
| |
| Q2 Where is the treated effluent being discharged? top |
| |
| Under HATS Stage 1, the treated effluent is discharged via the Stage 1 outfall into the western reach of Victoria Harbour. Through the 24 diffusers installed along the diffuser pipelines, the effluent is diluted and dispersed satisfactorily into the harbour. |
| |
| Q3 There have been a lot of problems with the Stage 1 tunnelling work. Is the concept of deep sewage transfer tunnels in the whole HATS project workable? top |
| |
The use of a tunnel system at an average depth of 100 metres to transfer sewage helps avoid opening up many kilometers of roads on the surface which would otherwise have caused serious traffic and social disruptions. It also minimizes disturbance to buildings and structures along the tunnel alignments.
Apart from the unilateral suspension of the tunnelling work in late 1996 by the original contractor which led to major delay of the project, the obstacles encountered are not insurmountable. In fact, dealing with the variable nature of rock is part and parcel of the tunnelling operation itself. The tunnelling works have been completed satisfactorily and the HATS Stage 1 successfully commissioned and put into full operation since December 2001. |
| |
| Q4 What is the current status of the subsequent stages of HATS? top |
| |
| For further stages of the Scheme, please visit the web site http://www.cleanharbour.gov.hk and website http://www.dsd.gov.hk/others/HATS2A/en/Home/index.html for more details. |
| |
| Q5 More FAQ top |
| |
| More FAQ to be linked to http://www.dsd.gov.hk/others/HATS2A/tc/FAQ/index.html |
| |