Water from Guangdong

Guangdong rivers are Hong Kong's major source of raw water. Hong Kong began to receive raw water from Guangdong when a scheme was formulated in 1960 for receiving a piped supply of 22.7 million cubic metres a year.

    In 1989, a long-term agreement was concluded with the Guangdong provincial authorities for a reliable water supply. In recent years, due to heavy rainfall, coupled with the declining demand from the local industry, there has been a decrease in demand for raw water from Guangdong. The Government reached an agreement with the Guangdong provincial authorities in July 1998 whereby the annual increase stipulated in the 1989 agreement was to be reduced from 30 million cubic metres to 10 million cubic metres from 1998 to 2004. As a result, the intake in the seven years will be reduced by 560 million cubic metres, cumulatively. Under the agreement, the supply quantity for 2002 was 800 million cubic metres, rising to 820 million cubic metres in 2004, compared with the present designed maximum capacity of 1 100 million cubic metres per year. The annual supply quantity beyond 2004 will be subject to further review.

    The quality of raw water from Guangdong continues to improve as a result of the efforts made by the Guangdong provincial authorities, including the commissioning of the biological nitrification plant and sediment removal in Shenzhen Reservoir, and strict enforcement of laws on pollution control. Further improvement in water quality is expected when the construction of the Dongshen closed aqueduct system is completed in 2003.

Water Storage and Consumption

Full supply to consumers was maintained throughout the year. At the end of 2002, 442 million cubic metres of water were in storage, compared with 444 million cubic metres at the end of 2001. Hong Kong's two largest reservoirs, High Island and Plover Cove, held 385 million cubic metres. Rainfall of 2 490 millimetres — 12.47 per cent higher than the annual average of 2 214 millimetres — was recorded in 2002.

    A peak daily consumption of 2.83 million cubic metres was recorded on September 9, compared with the 2001 peak of 2.79 million cubic metres. The average daily consumption throughout the year was 2.6 million cubic metres, compared with the 2001 average of 2.57 million cubic metres. The consumption of potable water totalled 949 million cubic metres, compared with 940 million cubic metres in 2001. In addition, 235 million cubic metres of sea water were supplied for flushing, compared with 236 million cubic metres in 2001.

Water Works

The first stage of the 20-year programme for the replacement or rehabilitation of some 3 050 kilometres of watermains is under way. Construction is in progress on the water treatment works in Tai Po and additional service reservoirs, pumping stations and water supply networks in Kowloon West and East, Hong Kong Island, Pok Fu Lam (including the Cyberport project), Tseung Kwan O, Sha Tin, Tai Po and North District, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau (for the Hong Kong Disneyland project). Major improvement work on the sea water supply system for Central Kowloon and Tsuen Wan continues.

    Continuing planning work is in hand to increase the water supply capacity to meet demands from new developments in Central, Wan Chai, western and south-western areas on Hong Kong Island; Kwun Tong in Kowloon; and Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing, Yuen Long, Hung Shui Kiu, North Lantau, Tseung Kwan O, and the north-eastern and north-western New Territories. Major design works are focused on the provision of additional service reservoirs, pumping stations and water supply networks in North Point, Quarry Bay, Pok Fu Lam, Western, Central and Wan Chai areas on Hong Kong Island; Kowloon East, West Kowloon Reclamation and Cha Kwo Ling; and Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tai Po, Tin Shui Wai, Tseung Kwan O, and North Lantau.

    With the endorsement of the Advisory Committee on the Quality of Water Supplies, strategies and implementation plans were prepared to build up confidence in direct consumption of water from taps. A voluntary Fresh Water Plumbing Quality Maintenance Recognition Scheme was launched in July to encourage proper maintenance of internal plumbing systems and regular cleaning of water tanks in buildings.

Water Accounts and Customer Relations

During the year, the number of consumer accounts continued to rise at a rate of about 2.5 per cent per year and the consumer account base expanded to approximately 2.5 million accounts at year-end. To provide greater convenience for customers, applications for a change of consumership, change of mailing address, change of water bill language for a domestic account can be made online. The Water Supplies Department continues to act as an agent to collect general sewage charges on behalf of the Drainage Services Department.

    Efforts to promote the autopay service continued, and the number of consumer accounts using autopay for payment of water charges expanded to 344 400, or about 13.6 per cent of all consumers. The Payment-by-Phone service was also well received and about 15.2 per cent of the total payments received were made through this service by year-end.

    To meet customers' requests for services more effectively, the department will implement the Customer Care and Billing System project for staged completion from end-2003 to late 2004.

    The department announced in August that its achievements against performance targets for the past year showed improvement over those of the previous year in some areas. Most achievement rates were close to, or reached, 100 per cent.