Environment | Is Nam Van Lake’s water fit for leisure activities?

Lawmaker Pereira Coutinho has issued a written enquiry to the government in order to question the use of the Nam Van Lake as a recreational facility.
Coutinho’s enquiry cites information from 2010 provided by the former president of the Civic and Municipal Affairs (IACM), stating that, “the water quality in the lakes of Macau, including the Nam Van, is inadequate for the practice of recreational and sports activities that involve direct contact with the water.”
The IACM said that in order to reduce the pollutants accumulated on the bottom slime, it had “used a residue-cleaning technique that supports the maintenance of the ecological balance.”
Coutinho has called for significant changes to the Nan Van Lake water quality to justify the lake’s status as a “recreational facility.”
The lawmaker also enquired whether fishing – an activity prohibited at the lake due to the same concerns – could be reestablished if the changes were effective enough to make the fish safe for human consumption.
Coutinho told the Times that the water pollution was caused by accumulated sewage from the buildings in the Avenida da Praia Grande area, after the lake’s closure many years ago.
The lawmaker also urged the government to proceed with a “reconstruction of the lake bottom, cleaning the excrement [and] sediment on the slime after decades due to dumping of sewage water.”