| Bloomberg  Hong Kong offered to reduce the amount of water taken from southern China to help ease the region’s worst drought in six decades and has been advised it doesn’t need to do so at present.
The director of Hong Kong’s Water Supplies Department, Ma Lee Tak, told a news conference today he toured reservoirs in neighboring Guangdong province and said Hong Kong would cut back on the water it takes if China needs the help.
Hong Kong, with 7 million people, has about six months’ of water in its reservoirs and buys additional supply from Guangdong, whose 94.5 million people face shortages after rainfall dropped to half last year’s level.
“The Guangdong officials appreciated our offer, but said they would agree to it only when it’s necessary,” Ma said.
Hong Kong’s reservoirs now hold 477 million cubic meters of water, about half the 950 million cubic meters the city uses each year, water supplies department spokesman K.K. Suen said yesterday. The system, built between 1877 and 1978, has a maximum capacity of 586 million cubic meters, according to the government’s Web site.
Hong Kong gets 70 percent to 80 percent of its water from the Dongjiang River in Guangdong, said K.K. Suen, a water supply engineer who also serves as departmental spokesman. Ma said today Hong Kong uses 3 percent of the river’s average annual flow volume.
Southern China has experienced drought for at least two months, China National Radio reported on its Web site yesterday.
Worst in 60 Years
Guangdong’s drought is the worst in 60 years, the Information Daily newspaper said yesterday, citing the water resources department. Rainfall in most parts of Guangdong in August through October was half last year’s level, according to the newspaper, based in the provincial capital of Guangzhou.
“We are in a natural cycle of drought, but climate change and global warming do make it more serious,” Prentice Koo, a campaigner at environmental group Greenpeace, said by phone in Hong Kong today. Koo said India is also facing drought.
The Guangdong city of Zhuhai made an emergency plan to restrict water supply, ordered companies and schools to cut use by 20 percent and will punish users who go over the limit, China National Radio said. City reservoir levels have fallen to 11- year lows, Xinhua News Agency reported Nov. 8.
Macau, bordering Zhuhai, is also trying to save water. The former Portuguese enclave, the only city in China where casinos are legal, is offering cash incentives to residents who cut water use, its government said in a statement Nov. 9. Bottle-Water Subsidies
Low-income families and the elderly in Macau will receive subsidies to buy bottled water if the salt level of municipal supplies is too high, the statement said.
Fresh water for Hong Kong was a concern during British colonial rule, which ended in 1997 with the city’s return to China. Local storage was the main source of water, and rationing was common until imports from China started in 1960.
The worst water crisis was in 1963-64, when water was available for four hours every four days, the government Web site said.
Hong Kong reduces reliance on imported water by using seawater for toilet flushing, about 15 percent of total use.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sophie Leung in Hong Kong at sleung59@bloomberg.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Kelvin Wong in Hong Kong at kwong40@bloomberg.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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