For Discussion PWSC(95-96)71
on 10 January 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 709 - WATERWORKS
Water Supplies - Fresh water supplies
137WF - Monitoring and control of fresh water supply systems

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 137WF to Category A at an estimated cost of $39.3 million in money-of-the-day prices for the installation of monitoring and control equipment at various water treatment works and fresh water pumping stations.

---

PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

---

PROBLEM

The existing provision of monitoring and control equipment at various water treatment works and fresh water pumping stations constructed many years ago does not meet operational requirements to maintain a reliable water supply to the public.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Water Supplies (DWS) with the support of the Secretary for Works, proposes to upgrade 137WF to Category A at an estimated cost of $39.3 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the installation of monitoring and control equipment at the water treatment works and fresh water pumping stations as listed at the Enclosure.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The scope of works comprises -

1. installation of monitoring and control equipment at the water treatment works in accordance with the standard provisions ; and
2. installation of monitoring and control equipment in accordance with the standard provisions¹, and a set of telemetry systems² at the fresh water pumping stations.

JUSTIFICATION

4. With the growth in population and the consequent increase in water consumption, the water supply network has expanded, and waterworks installations have increased considerably in terms of number, scale and complexity over the past decades. In order to run these installations efficiently and to ensure a reliable supply of water to the public, an up-to-date and effective monitoring and control system is very important. We have therefore identified a set of standard provisions to enable close monitoring of the operation of water treatment works and fresh water pumping stations. These provisions will increase operational efficiency by cutting the time required to respond to any system faults which may affect the supply of water to the public.

5. We have equipped newly-built water installations with the standard provisions. However, many existing water treatment works and fresh water pumping stations which were constructed some years ago do not have all of the control and monitoring equipment included in the standard provisions. We therefore propose to provide these installations with the necessary equipment needed to meet the standard provisions. A list of the installations is at the Enclosure.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

6. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $39.3 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 7 below), made up as follows -

7. Subject to approval, we will phase expenditure as follows -

8. We derive the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government's forecasts of trend labour and construction prices over the period between 1995 and 2000. We will tender the purchase of equipment under fixed-price lump-sum contracts. We will carry out the installation works under existing re-measurement term contracts with provision for inflation adjustment. By using works orders under the term contracts, we can adopt flexible works arrangements at the various sites to minimise interference with the normal daily operation of the waterworks installations.

9. The proposed works have negligible additional recurrent cost implications.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

10. We consider public consultation not to be necessary because the project only involves installation of monitoring and control equipment at and within existing waterworks installations.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

11. The Director of Environmental Protection confirms that the project does not have any environmental implications.

LAND ACQUISITION

12. This project does not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

13. We included 137WF in Category B in November 1993.

14. We have substantially completed the detailed design, preparation of working drawings and equipment specifications. We plan to start the proposed works in February 1996 for completion in August 1999.

1 -- These are a set of requirements identified by DWS to undertake monitoring, control and statistical functions at the waterworks installations. These provisions include flow measurement devices, level indicators, pressure sensing devices, status and fault alarm signals and water quality measurement devices as well as the equipment to record important statistics.
2 -- Telemetry systems are used to relay signals from the unmanned pumping stations to some of manned waterworks installations.

---