As Macau moves towards urbanization, how will water be used?

There are no rivers or lakes in Macau, surface water storage conditions are very poor, and groundwater is seriously polluted, so fresh water resources are very scarce. before the 1950s, Macau mainly relied on the two reservoirs within the territory of the storage capacity of about 1 million cubic meters of natural water storage. From 1950 onwards, the Green Island Pumping Station was set up in the peninsula to extract the river water from the Qianshan Waterway and transfer it to the reservoirs at the New Coast for storage, and then supply it to the users after treatment in the water filtration plant. This could still be barely maintained when the population and industry were relatively small. Later, due to the surge of industrial water consumption in Macao, as well as the construction of the Central Pearl River Delta (CPRD), the volume of water in the Qian Shan Waterway was reduced, and the contradiction between the supply and demand of fresh water in Macao became more and more prominent.In the late 50's, Macao suffered water shortages for many years. In the 10 years from 1958 to 1968 alone, there were four serious water restrictions, which once restricted the development of Macao's economy. Since the early 1960s, the mainland has been supplying water to the Macau region.

In order to solve the dilemma of water supply to Macao, according to Macao's request, with the strong support of the Central Government and Guangdong Province and Zhuhai City, Zhuhai Zhuxiandong Reservoir and Yinkeng Reservoir were completed and opened to the public one after another in March and July 1960, and they supplied Macao with 7,000-10,000 cubic meters of water per day, and about three million cubic meters of water annually, which alleviated Macao's water shortage. With the increasing population of Macao and the development of industrial and commercial tourism, the demand for potable water in Macao is getting higher and higher. In October 1978 and September 1980, Zhuhai Xiawan Pressurization Station and Nanshawan Pumping Station were built successively, which diverted the water from Dajingshan Reservoir in Xiangzhou, Zhuhai, and the Qianshan Watercourse to Xiawan for pressurization and then transported to Macao, so that the amount of water supplied to Macao was increased to 8 to 15 million cubic meters per annum. In order to fundamentally solve the water problems of Zhuhai and Macao, from 1984 onwards, the Ministry of Water Resources, Pearl River Water Resources Commission and Zhuhai City, Zhuhai and Macao cooperation in the construction of water supply projects, the Pearl River water from the Xijiang River Mudiamen Waterway to the Zhuxiandong Reservoir, the water pipeline through the direct supply of Macao Green Island Water Treatment Plant, the first, the second phase of the project has been completed in May 1988 and August 1989, put into operation. Since then, the facilities of the water supply project have been gradually improved, and the water supply quantity has been increased year by year. Since 1990, about 30 million cubic meters of water has been supplied to Macao annually, and the water supply quantity exceeded 50 million cubic meters by 1994, and the water supply quantity reached 54 million cubic meters by 1998, which has satisfied the water needs of the Macao area better.

At present, most of Macau's raw water comes from the Mordor Gate waterway of the Xijiang River in Zhuhai, China. Raw water (untreated potable water) passes through the Hung Wan Pumping Station to the Zhuhai Zhuxiandong Reservoir. The remaining raw water is stored in Shek Tei Hang Reservoir, Yinkeng Reservoir and Nanping Reservoir for emergency use and salt transfer during dry seasons.

Because of the high topography of the Chuk Sin Tung Reservoir, the raw water has to be fed into the Macao Green Island and Tai Shui Tong Fresh Water Treatment Plants through two one-meter-diameter pipes (*** with a capacity of about 190,000 cubic meters of raw water per day) and one one-meter-sixth-diameter pipe (with a capacity of about 240,000 cubic meters of raw water per day) as well as being stored at the Outer Harbour Reservoir, Tai Shui Tong.

The Moujiamen Raw Water Supply System is located on the east side of the Xijiang River in Zhuhai City, with the diversion gate at Hangdingjiao. The whole system starts from the west side of Hongwan, crosses Nanping and Wan Chai districts to Zhuxiandong Reservoir. It then flows to the Green Island Fresh Water Treatment Plant in Macau and Gongbei District in Zhuhai respectively. The total length of the system from Hang Ting Kok Diversion Gate to Macao Green Island Water Treatment Plant is about 20 kilometers. During the dry season in winter and spring, the Moco Door Raw Water System uses the Ping Kong Pumping Station located 20 kilometers upstream of Hang Ting Kok to pump raw water under pressure to the Hang Ting Kok Diversion Locks to cope with the salty tides.

Currently, 97% of Macau's water is supplied by the mainland.