Macau’s overall tap water consumption in the first five months of this year increased about 10 percent year on year, in line with the continuous growth in visitor arrivals, and the government has no plans to raise household water bills in the near future, Macao Water Executive Director Nacky Kuan Sio Peng and Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) Director Susana Wong Soi Man told the media in separate interviews yesterday.

Both made the remarks on the sidelines of yesterday’s “Macao Water Convenes Customer Liaison Group Meeting” at MGM Cotai.

“The last time [household] water bills were adjusted was in 2016, and [the price] of raw water supplied from the mainland to Macau has actually accumulated a certain rate of increase, with a rough estimation of nearly 20 percent,” Wong said, pointing out that, considering Macau’s economic situation and consumers’ livelihoods, there were no plans for the bureau to raise household water bills in the near future.

According to Wong, the government subsidises households’ water bills with more than 200 million patacas annually in total to help keep the cost of their tap water consumption down, and last year, as economic activities started to recover from the three-year COVID-19 pandemic, the government’s water bill subsidies amounted to 240 million to 250 million patacas.

Raw water supplied to Macau mainly from Zhuhai’s Xijiang (West River) – a main tributary of the Pearl River in Guangdong, and based on the long-standing Guangdong-Macau Water Supply Agreement, the two governments negotiate the review of the price of raw water supplied to Macau every three years, which is adjusted mainly according to the Macau consumer price index (CPI) of the past three years. Under the latest arrangement, the price set for the 2023-25 period, amounts to 2.77 yuan (1.96 patacas) per cubic metre.

Meanwhile, Kuan told reporters that among the overall tap water consumption recorded in the first five months of this year, there was a “significant” year-on-year increase of 20 percent in the consumption by the industrial and commercial sectors, adding she expected the rate of increase in tap water consumption to slow down in the second half of the year, with an estimated 5.5 percent year-on-year growth for the whole year.

However, Kuan was quick to add that the tap water consumption by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has still not yet reached the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, while domestic water consumption dropped year on year but was similar to pre-pandemic 2019: “On the one hand, maybe, local residents have become more aware of water conservation and, on the other hand, many residents have resumed travelling outside Macau after the lifting of the COVID-19-related travel restrictions”.

Macau’s economy was severely affected by the pandemic between early 2020 and late 2022. 

Macao Water Executive Director Nacky Kuan Sio Peng (left) and Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) Director Susana Wong Soi Man speak to the media on the sidelines of yesterday’s “Macao Water Convenes Customer Liaison Group Meeting” at MGM Cotai.
– Photo combo: Yuki Lei