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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council Secretariat (the Secretariat) today (June 11) released a Research Brief on "Water resources in Hong Kong".
Hong Kong enjoys a stable fresh water supply and its water tariff has been among the lowest in the world. This can be attributable to its three-pillar water supply structure featuring rainwater collected from local catchments, imported Dongjiang water and seawater for toilet flushing.
In 1965, Hong Kong formally started to import raw water from Dongjiang, which accounted for about 70%-80% of the city's fresh water supply in recent years. The recently signed water supply agreement with Guangdong guarantees Hong Kong a stable supply of Dongjiang water until 2017. However, the planned development of the Pearl River Delta as a world-class industrial base should boost the water demand in Dongjiang-reliant cities in the years ahead. There is no assurance that Dongjiang will always be able to provide a constant water supply for Hong Kong.
Under the "package deal lump sum" approach adopted since 2006 in exchange for a reliable and flexible supply of Dongjiang water, Hong Kong is required to pay an annual lump sum payment regardless of how much is actually supplied from Guangdong. Nevertheless, the approach allows the flexibility in adjusting the amount of Dongjiang water piped to Hong Kong on a monthly basis.
On the other hand, Hong Kong's water tariff was frozen in 1995. However, the water production cost has more than doubled since then. The Water Supplies Department (WSD) has been financing the deficits with increased government funding, and the size of government funding can be reduced by measures such as reduction of spillage from small reservoirs and active control of water leakage.
The Inter-Reservoirs Transfer Scheme to avoid the spillage of rainwater from small reservoirs is one of the measures considered by the Government to control water wastage. The Scheme was planned as early as in 2004, but WSD has yet to seek funding for carrying out the related construction works.
Another measure to control water wastage is a territory-wide programme to replace about 3 000 km of aged water mains. The programme has helped lower the water leakage rate from more than 20% in the mid-2000s to 16% in 2014. However, fresh water loss still amounted to 157 million cubic metres in 2013, which is more than the planned annual capacity of the desalination plant in Tseung Kwan O.
This is the fifth issue of the Research Brief for 2014-2015 prepared by the Secretariat's Research Office of the Information Services Division with a view to enhancing information support for Members. It is a concise summary aiming at explaining a subject matter which may be of interest to Members and the general public.
The Research Brief is now available on the Legislative Council Website at www.legco.gov.hk/
research-publications/english/1415rb05-water-resources-
in-hong-kong-20150611-e.pdf.
Ends/Thursday, June 11, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:28
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