H1 2026 Evaluation
Hong Kong Reservoir Transparency
A-82Very Good — Ranked #8 out of 168 countries
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Primary source evaluated
Hong Kong Water Supplies Department — Current Storage Position of Impounding Reservoirs
https://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/core-businesses/operation-and-maintenance-of-waterworks/waterworks/current-storage-position-of-impounding-reservoirs/index.htmlDimension breakdown
Data Availability
20% of total score
The Water Supplies Department publishes current storage volume (million m³) and percent-full for every one of Hong Kong's 17 impounding reservoirs. Individual figures appear twice a month as dated English and Traditional Chinese CSVs on data.gov.hk (latest file confirmed 16 August 2026). A separate weekly product gives the territory-wide total and fill percentage (latest confirmed 24 August 2026: 512.547 hm³, 87.46%). Both series are machine-readable and require no registration. This sits in the weekly band (60–79): the national aggregate is weekly, while the per-reservoir series is fortnightly rather than daily. Score 72 reflects complete current volume-plus-percentage for 100% of covered capacity, at a cadence just below a true weekly individual bulletin.
Technical Accessibility
15% of total score
WSD storage is published as structured CSV on the HKSAR open-data portal, listed through the documented CKAN Action API (package_show for the bi-weekly and weekly packages) and the data.gov.hk historical-archive API. English and Traditional Chinese files are paired, openly licensed, and downloadable without a key. That clears the 80–99 band (API or structured downloads). The score stays at 84 rather than the 90–100 band because there is no documented live JSON of current readings — each fortnight is a new dated CSV resource, not a versioned timeseries endpoint — and the CKAN listing is a catalogue API rather than a purpose-built hydrology product. Comparable to Cyprus (84, undocumented but official JSON) and above Norway (82).
Coverage
30% of total score
Methodology v1.3.0 (capacity-weighted). The WSD bi-weekly CSV names all 17 impounding reservoirs that constitute Hong Kong's entire impounding estate: High Island, Plover Cove, Shek Pik, Tai Lam Chung, Shing Mun, Tai Tam Tuk, Lower Shing Mun and ten smaller Island/Kowloon basins, totalling ~586 hm³. COVERED capacity = 586 hm³. National denominator for impounding storage = 586 hm³. Score = round(100 × 586 / 586) = 100. Service reservoirs (covered tanks) and the Dongjiang import from Guangdong are not Hong Kong impoundments and are outside the RTI reservoir-storage scope.
Historical Depth
13% of total score
The open-data individual series on data.gov.hk begins 16 January 2019 and is complete through the latest fortnight — 181 dated English CSVs confirmed on 30 August 2026, a median depth of about 7.6 years across 100% of covered capacity. That sits in the 60–79 band (median 5–10 years). The paper/HTML WSD storage page is older, but the machine-readable archive used for this evaluation starts in 2019. Score 68 rather than the top of the band because seven years is the lower half of 5–10, and the series is fortnightly rather than daily.
Update Frequency
10% of total score
Individual reservoir volume and percent-full are published twice a month (files dated the 1st and the 16th). The territory-wide total is published weekly on a separate WSD/data.gov.hk product. Capacity-weighted, 100% of covered storage has a fortnightly individual reading and a weekly national aggregate. That is the lower edge of the weekly band (60–79) — more frequent than monthly, short of a true weekly per-reservoir bulletin. Score 70.
Methodological Transparency
8% of total score
WSD publishes named volumes and percent-full, so design capacity is public (volume ÷ %). The WSD site and data.gov.hk metadata describe the 17 impounding reservoirs and the units (million cubic metres). That meets the 60–99 band (capacity figures published; methodology only partly documented). No stage-volume curves, bathymetric surveys, sensor types or quality-control notes are published alongside the storage CSVs. Score 62 — just inside the partial-publication band, below Cyprus (65), which at least cites a water-balance framework.
Language and Usability
5% of total score
Every operational product is bilingual. The WSD storage page, the bi-weekly and weekly CSVs, and the data.gov.hk catalogue entries are published in English and Traditional Chinese in parallel. data.gov.hk documentation and the CKAN API are in English. There is no language barrier for international use of current or historical storage figures. Score 98 rather than 100 only because there is no dedicated interactive reservoir dashboard — the public face is an HTML table plus CSV — not because of any language gap.
Evaluator notes
Hong Kong is a small, fully published impounding estate: 17 WSD reservoirs, ~586 hm³, every one named in the official bi-weekly CSV with volume and percent-full. Open data on data.gov.hk starts 16 January 2019 (181 English files confirmed 30 August 2026). A weekly territory-wide total sits alongside. CKAN package_show plus the historical-archive API make the series machine-readable without a key, under the HKSAR open-data licence. The main limits on the score are cadence and methodology, not coverage. Individual figures are fortnightly, not daily; capacity is implied by volume and percent rather than published with curves or QC; and there is no live JSON of current readings — each release is a new dated CSV. Language is not a constraint: English and Traditional Chinese are complete on both the WSD site and data.gov.hk. Editorial context that does not change the scores: Hong Kong also imports Dongjiang water from Guangdong, so local fill is not the whole supply story. Service reservoirs (covered tanks) are outside the RTI impounding-reservoir scope. Weighted total ≈ 82.1 (A−).
Evaluated by Jaime Delgado · 2026-08-30 · Methodology v1.3.0