Shing Mun River

Environment of the Shing Mun River in an early development phase. The area is now fully developed and has a high building density.

The Shing Mun River (Chinese城门 河, Pinyin Chéng Mén Hé, Cantonese sing11 mun11 HO11 ) is a river in Sha Tin, Hong Kong.

History

The original Shing Mun River begins in Needle Hill and flows into the former Sha Tin Hoi, a shallow bay. As land reclamation was operated at Sha Tin Hoi, to build a new town plan, the Shing Mun River had to be routed through a seven-kilometer -long and 200 meters wide artificial canal through the center of the new city to the Tolo Harbour. Other rivers that flowed before in the Sha Tin Hoi, have now become tributaries of the Shing Mun River or one of its Nullah.

The channel portion extending from the area around Tai Wai through the town center of Sha Tin to the Tolo Harbour. There are three major tributaries, the Tai Wai Nullah, Fo Tan Nullah and the Siu Lek Yuen Nullah the. Mutually of the Shing Mun River, there are residential, office and industrial buildings, which are distributed in different urban forms. Several bridges connect both sides of the Shing Mun River.

Problem of pollution

The Shing Mun River was once industrial, commercial and domestic sources heavily contaminated by poorly discharges from livestock farming. In the 1980s, the total organic pollution, summed from these wastewaters to a population equivalent of 160,000. At that time, you could hardly find a living in the river. Since 1993, the water quality has improved significantly. Organisms such as fish and invertebrates occurred since the back on this river.

Along a 250 meter long section at Man Lai Court, where there are large deposits of sediment and comes to odor problems, an artificial river bank was built.

Current usage

Although the Shing Mun River was designed in the rain with a catchment area of 37 km ² mainly for drainage of Sha Tin, he's a happy -used place for recreational activities such as boating, fishing, riverside walks or cycling.

The Shing Mun River is used especially for water sports such as rowing, canoeing and dragon boat races. There are two boat houses at the Shing Mun River, one in Yuen Wo Rd, another in Shek Mun. On the river there is a 2000 meter race track for racing.