Au renews decade-old call for seawater flushing

Lawmaker Au Kam San has once again called on the Macau government to establish a seawater-based flushing system, this time in the new urban zones currently under construction.

The democrat lawmaker made similar calls 10 years ago in October 2008, but with little success.

Then-director of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT), Jaime Carion, at the time argued that the project was not realistic because of its high implementation costs and the fact that Macau’s surrounding seawater was “unstable” and would still require preliminary treatment.

Now Au is repeating his call for the establishment of seawater- based flushing in order to preserve “precious fresh water.”

“[When] faced with freshwater shortages, all places around the world cherish fresh water. Macau people are still using precious fresh water for flushing,” Au pointed out.

“Soon after the handover when Cotai was under construction, the concept of seawater for flushing had not yet been introduced, leaving all big hotels and residences in the Cotai Strip, as well as the entire Cotai city, using fresh water for flushing. This is a major mistake from which it is not easy to recover,” he said.

The lawmaker has asked the government to consider the use of seawater flushing for the land reclamation zones. The government has already signaled that it plans to reserve a large part of the new urban zones for residential purposes.

In Au’s opinion, all areas of the new urban zones “should set up systems using seawater for flushing.”

On the same subject, Au praised the government authority for having prepared seawater for flushing systems when it was building the Seac Pai Van public houses, but lamented that the systems have not been put to good use.

“It is still a pity that, knowing of the existence of such a system, seawater for flushing is still not realized,” he said, further questioning the government on when it will enter into operation. DB/JZ