Recycled water in the pipeline

The supply of recycled water in Macau will only be ready after 2016 as the government has already missed its initial target to have a water recycling plant built in Coloane. It was originally intended that usable water would be generated by this year, Business Daily has learnt from Marine and Water Bureau director Susana Wong Soi Man.
“We’ve already laid out our basic requirements for [the construction] of the water recycling plant [in Coloane], and now the Environment Protection Bureau (DSPA) is preparing the public tender for this project,” Ms. Wong told Business Daily on the sidelines of an event held by French waste and water group Suez Environnement in Beijing on Friday.
“The construction of the water recycling plant is indeed a delay to what we have planned,” the Bureau’s director added. “Now, we don’t really have a concrete timeline about when the plant can start to generate usable recycled water but we’re sure that such supply will only be ready after 2016.”
In 2013, the government garnered public support for its outline of a ten-year plan (2013-2022) calling for the construction of two water recycling plants and for such water to account for 10 per cent of the city’s total consumption by 2020-2022.
A ‘short-term’ target as stated by the government in the plan was to have the production technology and water quality specifications for recycled water updated in Macau’s Regulation for Water Supply and Wastewater Drainage by 2015, as well as having the water recycling plant in Coloane constructed and ready to produce a daily 12,000 cubic litres by this year.
Although the pipelines for supplying recycled water is already in place at Seac Pai Van public housing complex and the University of Macau’s Hengqin campus, missing this short-term target for recycled water use means that these pipelines would have to be left idle for more years.
In a statement released in January, DSPA confirmed the delay in executing several infrastructure projects, including the construction of the water recycling plant, an upgrade of the city’s incineration plant and modification works for the sewage treatment plant on Macau Peninsula. These projects involved an investment of over MOP200 million (US$25 million).
Catching up Accounting for the delay in this string of public works projects, however, DSPA only briefly attributed it to the ‘complexities of the infrastructure projects’ and ‘a longer than expected time’ for preparing the public tender documents.
Speaking to Business Daily on Friday, Ms. Wong said that the planned launching of the public tender of the recycling water plant project should be now “in the final stage”.
“Our target is: before we have the supply of recycled water, the legal framework for that is in place,” she said, referring to the amendment of the Regulation for Water Supply and Wastewater Drainage.
The Marine and Water Bureau director noted that the discussion on the legal amendment, which started with the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) last year, is still ongoing.
“We’re trying to encourage more casino operators to take part in the use of recycled water,” Ms. Wong told us, “although we don’t have a law in place yet or a big incentive for them to support our plan.”
Nevertheless, the Bureau director noted that the pipelines for supplying recycled water are already in place at City of Dreams and the soon-to-be-completed Studio City, as well as Wynn Palace in Cotai, which is also under construction.
“For these casino-resorts, basically they have dual pipelines supplying the running water and also the recycled water, respectively,” Ms. Wong said. “And the recycled water is used to flush the toilets, as well as for greenery and landscaping – which fits in with what we have planned for the use of recycled water.”
“Our second phase target is to supply the recycled water with a higher purity to the casino operators, so that they can apply it to their air cooling system,” said Ms. Wong.
The second phase Ms. Wong refers to is the period 2016-2019, whereby the government intends to expand the laying of more recycled water pipelines in the city’s newly reclaimed urban zones.
The eventual goal for the government is to achieve the use of recycled water accounting for 10 per cent of the city’s total consumption by 2020-2022, by which time the city should see a second water recycling plant constructed on the Macau Peninsula increasing the total production capacity of recycled water to 52,000 cubic metres a day.