Macao Water announces MOP68 million profit for 2015

Of the total MOP68 million in profit made by The Macao Water Supply Company Limited (Macao Water) in 2015, MOP51.6 million resulted from the main water supply services business of the company. This was helped by a slight increase in local water consumption registered, attributed to ‘multiple construction projects […] and the large-scale entertainment facilities’, says the company’s annual financial results report released yesterday. The total increase in consumption was 1.7 per cent, amounting to a total of 84.9 million cubic metres consumed last year. Commercial and industrial water use accounted for the majority of the overall water consumption at 50.8 per cent, with domestic water use making up 42.8 per cent and government and municipality use only 6.4 per cent. Throughout the year Macao Water invested MOP89 million in various projects, including the expansion of the Main Storage Reservoir Water Treatment Plant (MSR III Project) – which began operation mid-2015. In addition the group announced it would invest approximately MOP800 million in ‘constructing the Seac Pai Van water treatment in Coloane’ – a plan originally proposed in 2014 and divided into two phases with an estimated cost of MOP1 billion to MOP1.5 billion, reported Business Daily. This will be the fourth such water treatment plant, adding 100,000 cubic metres of daily water supply to the current 390,000 cubic metres. The group additionally plans to ‘completely replace the remaining zinc coated and asbestos water pipes before 2019,’ it says in the report. Asbestos is a common component in older buildings in insulation and tiling. Materials containing asbestos, when broken, release fibres into the air which if inhaled have been linked to diseases including lung cancer. There is no evidence that the pipes can cause cancer by drinking water from them, but there is potential danger if the pipes are disturbed and release fibres into the air and inhaled.