As a long-term partner of the Drainage Services Department (DSD), the EMSD has always been dedicated to providing the DSD with quality E&M services and innovation and technology (I&T) solutions. In the past year, we applied an I&T solution flexibly in collaboration with the DSD to provide brand-new experience for visitors of the DSD’s largest sewage treatment works and facilitate its internal staff training.
For more than 20 years, the Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works (SCISTW) has been handling domestic sewage generated on both sides of the harbour at a daily capacity of up to 2.4 million cubic meters. It is currently one of the largest sewage treatment works of its type in the world. To introduce sewage treatment to the public, an information centre was established at the SCISTW. However, onsite visits were inevitably bounded by the nature of sewage treatment process, the environment of the sewage treatment works, as well as the requirements stipulated in the Occupational, Safety and Health Ordinance. In view of the above, we have arranged several meetings with the client and conducted onsite visits, so as to gain a clear understanding of the existing facilities and the client’s expectations on enhancing visitors’ experience in the future. Upon meticulous deliberation, we proposed the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) system to the DSD to enable a 360-degree virtual visiting experience of the sewage treatment process for the SCISTW’s visitors.
To create an all-direction and three-dimensional virtual experience, our colleagues recorded the SCISTW with full dedication, covering every corner of the facilities. In addition to using drones to take bird’s-eye views of the facilities from the sky, we dived into areas inaccessible to visitors, such as the bottom of the sedimentation tanks. The virtual system overcomes physical limitations and provide visitors with an omniscient view into this world-class infrastructure. In spite of the COVID-19 epidemic that challenged our team at the final stage of the works, we continued to work closely with the client day and night to press ahead with the installation and testing works. Thanks to the concerted efforts of the involved parties, we were able to launch the system in time eventually. Apart from promoting public education, the CAVE system can also be used for internal safety training of the DSD’s staff, as its virtual reality environment ensures occupational safety while keeping interruption to the facilities’ daily operation to a minimum.
“The EMSD has always provided us with innovative ideas. They have been working diligently to sort out the most suitable solution to enhance our efficiency and performance in all respects,” said Miss Chan Wing-yan, Yanto, Engineer of the DSD. Appreciation of the clients always brings us motivation. Committed to communicating and collaborating with our clients, we make use of our I&T specialty, put ourselves in their shoes and strive to ensure that their needs are fully met. Going forward, we will continue to join hands with our clients to serve the community with all our hearts.