The Water Supplies Department (WSD) today (December 18) held the Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Dongjiang Water Supply to Hong Kong Colouring and Drawing Competitions and Cherish Water Campus Award Ceremony to commend the school-sponsoring bodies, principals, teachers and students for their enthusiastic participation in the celebration activities and efforts in promoting water conservation. Guests presenting awards at the ceremony included the Director of Water Supplies, Mr Roger Wong; Principal Education Officer of the Education Bureau Miss Yvonne Lam; the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Water Supplies, Professor Joseph Kwan; the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association, Ms Kathy Chung; and the Chairperson of the Subsidised Primary School Council, Dr Cheung Chok-fong.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Dongjiang's water supply to Hong Kong next year, the WSD held a colouring competition and a drawing competition for all kindergartens and primary schools respectively from September to October this year. The competitions aimed to deepen students' understanding of Dongjiang's water supply and the country's care and long-term support for Hong Kong. The events were well received by the education sector, attracting more than 18 000 entries in total. The winning entries not only exhibit students' creativity but also demonstrate the strong blood ties between the Mainland and Hong Kong.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Wong said that due to severe droughts, stringent water rationing measures were implemented in Hong Kong in the 1960s, with only four hours of water supply for local people every four days during the most severe period. The country's timely support to complete the Dongjiang-Shenzhen Water Supply Scheme within about one year with the mobilisation of a large amount of manpower and resources – enabling an uninterrupted Dongjiang water supply to flow into Hong Kong – helped the city become an international metropolis. Mr Wong encouraged students to learn from history and be grateful for the care rendered by the country and cherish every drop of water as it cannot be taken for granted.
During the ceremony, the award-winning students shared that the creative ideas for their artworks were inspired by the connection between Guangdong and Hong Kong people by Dongjiang's water, and acknowledged the strong blood ties between Hong Kong and the country.
The ceremony also presented various awards for Cherish Water Campus for the 2023/24 school year to commend contributions made by the teachers and students in water conservation, including gold awards for outstanding schools in the 18 districts and the Water Conservation Star Award, etc. A full list of awardees for Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Dongjiang Water Supply to Hong Kong Kindergarten Parent-child Colouring Competition and Primary School Parent-child Drawing Competition, as well as the award list of Cherish Water Campus, are available on the WSD website.
The WSD has been dedicated to promoting water conservation to the public, in particular the young generation, through various channels. The WSD launched the Cherish Water Campus Integrated Education Programme to primary schools in 2015. The programme was extended to all kindergartens in the 2018/19 school year. As of now, over 450 primary schools and 460 kindergartens have joined the programme. The programme provides a wide range of interactive educational resources which enable students to know more about water as a precious resource, thereby inspiring them to think about the importance of saving water and develop a sense of civic responsibility.
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