Macao Water Executive Director Nacky Kuan Sio Peng said yesterday that last year’s tap water consumption increased year on year by 7 percent to 97 million cubic metres, expecting a “significant” year-on-year growth in the first half of this year, with a possible rise of 5.5 percent for the whole year.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of yesterday’s Macao Water Media Spring Luncheon at MGM MACAU in Nape, Kuan said she expected the tap water consumption recorded in the first half of this year to increase year on year by 7 to 8 percent, with the tap water consumption for the whole of 2024 expected to register a year-on-year growth of 5.5 percent. She also said that the post-pandemic resumption of commercial and tourism activities led to an increase in tap water consumption in January, with a year-on-year rise of about 12 percent.
Delivering a speech during the utility’s luncheon for local journalists, Kuan said she believed that “with the economic growth, the tap water consumption this year is expected to reach over 100 million cubic metres seen in [the pre-pandemic year of] 2019”.
Macao Water has noted a decrease in saltwater intrusion thanks to the Datengxia water conservancy hydropower constructed in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with the aim to provide flood control in the Pearl River basin and improve water security in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay area (GBA), Kuan said, adding that the response time required for emergency water supply in the basin has been shortened from 10 days to just three days, safeguarding the security of water supplied to Macau in the long run.
The building of the Datengxia hydropower station was completed in September last year after nine years of construction.
According to Kuan, her company plans to carry out maintenance on its water supply facilities this year, including the repairs of some of its water treatment plants and the replacement of water pipes and water meters. Its work plan this year also includes the commencement of pipe-laying works in Lot P in Areia Preta and the Zone A land reclamation area, she said.
Moreover, the three-year subsidy scheme launched by Macao Water to motivate proprietors to proactively arrange repairs and maintenance of service connections, which has been extended to the end of March next year, has achieved the company’s desired results, with more than 6,000 households having been granted the subsidies so far, Kuan said.
Macao Water Executive Director Nacky Kuan Sio Peng (ninth from right) and Deputy General Manager Oscar Chu Wai Man (ninth from left) pose with Macau media representatives during yesterday’s Media Spring Luncheon at MGM MACAU in Nape. – Photo: Macao Water
