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Shower quickly, salt tides are coming
By Guo Likun |
December 10, 2009, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IRENE Kan sighs with relief when she reads the "green" classification for the salinity of Macau's drinking water.
The 25-year-old office clerk in downtown Macau checks tap water salinity level on the Macau government Website every day.
With little freshwater of its own, Macau depends on the Chinese mainland of about 90 percent of its drinking water. The special administrative region and former Portuguese territory lies on the west side of the Pearl River Delta and borders Zhuhai city in southern Guangdong Province.
Both Macau and Zhuhai rely on the Xijiang River, a tributary of the Pearl River, and they experience salt tides in winter and spring when water reserves decrease and seawater flows back in.
The salt tides have become more serious on the Xijiang River since 2003 due to global warming and the growing demand for water in areas along the upper reaches of the river. Salt tides, which usually begin in earnest in November, arrived two months earlier in Zhuhai this year.
The Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) government began to release daily salinity levels and post forecasts of potable water via news media and the Internet on October 19.
The government advises residents on ways to mix tap water with distilled water at an appropriate rate to dilute the salinity. People who drink a lot of tap water with excessive salinity over time can be at risk for high blood pressure, kidney troubles or diarrhea.
Macau's salinity level has been contained within the standard level for the past two months thanks to the measures by provinces on the upper reaches of Xijiang River. Despite a water shortage, pumping stations in Zhuhai have drawn 43 million cubic meters of water since September 24 and supplied Macau 14.2 million cubic meters of raw water to resist the salt tides.
At their worst, Macau's salinity levels exceeded 600mg per liter in late 2005 and remained at that level through the following February.
Bai Zhijian, director of the Liaison Office of the Central Government in Macau, says: "Provincial-level areas including Guizhou and Guangxi, on the Xijiang River's upper reaches, have made great sacrifices as they must discharge water during drought periods to ensure supplies to the Pearl River Delta and Macau."
Fan Xiaojun, general manager of Macau Water, the sole water supplier in the region, says water diversion is just a short-term measure.
Two projects, the Zhuyin Reservoir and the Datengxia Project, under a State Council-approved program to secure water supply for both Macau and Zhuhai, are considered interim and long-term solutions, he says.
Macau's water consumption is rising rapidly with fast economic and social development, says Jiao Yong, China's vice minister of water resources.
It is expected to reach 81.64 million cubic meters in 2010, compared with 68.6 million in 2006.
The SAR government has appealed to Macau's 500,000 people to participate in the water conservation campaign and help with drinking water security.
The SAR government plans to change the water pricing system to encourage individuals, institutions and corporations to save water.
The ultimate aim is to cut reliance on water from the Chinese mainland by 22.7 million cubic meters, 29 percent of the supply last year, by 2025, says Wong Man Tou, a division chief of the SAR Maritime Administration.
The SAR government launched the Household Water Conservation Rebate Program, facilitating water conservation in the community, in November.
Residents get a water rate rebate of up to 50 patacas if they cut their consumption by 10 percent year-on-year from November to February next year.
Susana Wong Soi-man, head of the Working Group on the Development of a Water Conservation Society, was quoted Monday by the Macau Daily as saying that about 15 percent of water users cut their consumption by 10 to 30 percent year-on-year in the three weeks since the program was launched.
Household usage accounts for about half of water consumption in Macau.
Kan, an enthusiastic participant in the campaign, says: "The biggest change for me is I take much shorter showers than before."
(The author is a Xinhua writer.)
The 25-year-old office clerk in downtown Macau checks tap water salinity level on the Macau government Website every day.
With little freshwater of its own, Macau depends on the Chinese mainland of about 90 percent of its drinking water. The special administrative region and former Portuguese territory lies on the west side of the Pearl River Delta and borders Zhuhai city in southern Guangdong Province.
Both Macau and Zhuhai rely on the Xijiang River, a tributary of the Pearl River, and they experience salt tides in winter and spring when water reserves decrease and seawater flows back in.
The salt tides have become more serious on the Xijiang River since 2003 due to global warming and the growing demand for water in areas along the upper reaches of the river. Salt tides, which usually begin in earnest in November, arrived two months earlier in Zhuhai this year.
The Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) government began to release daily salinity levels and post forecasts of potable water via news media and the Internet on October 19.
The government advises residents on ways to mix tap water with distilled water at an appropriate rate to dilute the salinity. People who drink a lot of tap water with excessive salinity over time can be at risk for high blood pressure, kidney troubles or diarrhea.
Macau's salinity level has been contained within the standard level for the past two months thanks to the measures by provinces on the upper reaches of Xijiang River. Despite a water shortage, pumping stations in Zhuhai have drawn 43 million cubic meters of water since September 24 and supplied Macau 14.2 million cubic meters of raw water to resist the salt tides.
At their worst, Macau's salinity levels exceeded 600mg per liter in late 2005 and remained at that level through the following February.
Bai Zhijian, director of the Liaison Office of the Central Government in Macau, says: "Provincial-level areas including Guizhou and Guangxi, on the Xijiang River's upper reaches, have made great sacrifices as they must discharge water during drought periods to ensure supplies to the Pearl River Delta and Macau."
Fan Xiaojun, general manager of Macau Water, the sole water supplier in the region, says water diversion is just a short-term measure.
Two projects, the Zhuyin Reservoir and the Datengxia Project, under a State Council-approved program to secure water supply for both Macau and Zhuhai, are considered interim and long-term solutions, he says.
Macau's water consumption is rising rapidly with fast economic and social development, says Jiao Yong, China's vice minister of water resources.
It is expected to reach 81.64 million cubic meters in 2010, compared with 68.6 million in 2006.
The SAR government has appealed to Macau's 500,000 people to participate in the water conservation campaign and help with drinking water security.
The SAR government plans to change the water pricing system to encourage individuals, institutions and corporations to save water.
The ultimate aim is to cut reliance on water from the Chinese mainland by 22.7 million cubic meters, 29 percent of the supply last year, by 2025, says Wong Man Tou, a division chief of the SAR Maritime Administration.
The SAR government launched the Household Water Conservation Rebate Program, facilitating water conservation in the community, in November.
Residents get a water rate rebate of up to 50 patacas if they cut their consumption by 10 percent year-on-year from November to February next year.
Susana Wong Soi-man, head of the Working Group on the Development of a Water Conservation Society, was quoted Monday by the Macau Daily as saying that about 15 percent of water users cut their consumption by 10 to 30 percent year-on-year in the three weeks since the program was launched.
Household usage accounts for about half of water consumption in Macau.
Kan, an enthusiastic participant in the campaign, says: "The biggest change for me is I take much shorter showers than before."
(The author is a Xinhua writer.)
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