The government has announced the unit prices of reclaimed water, the generation and supply of which will start on March 1, for all categories of users (domestic and non-domestic), according to which the unit prices of reclaimed water will be 15 percent lower than those of tap water for the respective categories of users, but unlike households’ tap water usage with a tiered-fee system, such a system will not be implemented for their use of reclaimed water.
The unit prices of reclaimed water were announced in a chief executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) on Monday, when the Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) also issued a statement on the matter.
Coloane’s sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood and the University of Macau (UM) campus will be the first two areas in Macau to where reclaimed water will be supplied.
The UM’s current campus is situated in a one-square-kilometre area of Zhuhai City’s Hengqin island that is under the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) direct jurisdiction, i.e., Macau’s laws and regulations fully apply there.
Reclaimed water in Macau will be used for two purposes first after its upcoming launch on March 1, namely toilet flushing and landscape irrigation. In the future, the government will study the feasibility of extending the use of reclaimed water to more non-potable purposes.
Macau’s tap water tariff system currently comprises three categories of users, namely domestic (household), general non-domestic, and special non-domestic.
According to the current tariff system, general non-domestic users of tap water are charged 6.04 patacas per cubic metre, while special non-domestic users are charged 7.75 patacas per cubic metre.
General non-domestic users include business premises in general, government premises, schools, hospitals, and community associations, while special non-domestic users include gaming premises, hotels, saunas, golf courses, and construction projects.
A tiered-fee system is not implemented for both general non-domestic and special non-domestic users of tap water, meaning that they pay a constant unit price regardless of the volume of their tap water consumption.
Conversely, a tiered-fee system is implemented for household tap water users, meaning that households using more tap water pay a higher unit price. Household tap water users are currently billed by the city’s water utility Macao Water every two months instead of every month.
The tiered-fee system for household tap water users has four tiers, where a household using up to 28 cubic metres in two months pays the first-tier unit price, 4.48 patacas per cubic metre.
The system’s second tier applies to households with tap water consumption between 29 and 60 cubic metres in two months where they pay the first-tier unit price, 4.48 patacas per cubic metre, for the first 28 cubic metres and the second-tier unit price, 5.18 patacas per cubic metre, for the following 29 to 60 cubic metres.
The third tier applies to households with tap water consumption between 61 and 79 cubic metres in two months, to which a unit price of 6.04 patacas per cubic metre applies.
The top, fourth tier applies to households with tap water consumption of 80 cubic metres or above in two months, where they pay a unit price of 7.27 patacas per cubic metre for their tap water consumption beginning with the 80th cubic metre.
This photo taken during a media tour on Saturday last week shows pumping equipment in the newly completed first phase of the Coloane Reclaimed Water Station, located next to the Coloane Wastewater Treatment Plant. – Photo: Tony Wong
Reclaimed water unit prices for different categories of users
According to Monday’s announcements about the upcoming reclaimed water tariff system, general non-domestic users of reclaimed water will be charged 5.13 patacas per cubic metre, while special non-domestic users will be charged 6.59 patacas per cubic metre, i.e., 15 percent lower than the unit prices of tap water for the respective two categories of users.
According to the announcements on Monday, a tiered-fee system will not be implemented for household reclaimed water users, meaning that they will be charged a constant unit price, 3.81 patacas per cubic metre, regardless of the volume of their reclaimed water consumption, i.e., 15 percent lower than the first-tier tap water unit price (4.48 patacas per cubic metre).
The newly completed first phase of the Coloane Reclaimed Water Station will be able to generate up to 2,500 cubic metres of reclaimed water per day, which will be delivered to the Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood and the UM campus from March 1 this year.
The Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood comprises one social rental housing estate and three subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) estates.
From March 1, according to the DSAMA website, reclaimed water will be supplied to Lok Kuan Building (social housing), Ip Heng Building (HOS estate), and Koi Nga Building (HOS estate) in the Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood. However, On Son Building (HOS estate) there will not be included in the upcoming supply of reclaimed water because the estate is not equipped with a dual-pipe system as it was the first to be built in the neighbourhood.
In addition, the neighbourhood’s three public-facility complexes will also be supplied with reclaimed water namely Seac Pai Van Community Complex, Seac Pai Van Social and Health Services Building, and the complex consisting of Seac Pai Van Public School, Language Teaching Activity Centre, and Vocational and Technical Education Activity Centre.
