Environment report | Population density up, air quality down

The local population density rose to 21,400 persons per square km in 2016, and its waste water treatment volume increased by almost 19 percent, according to the latest annual environment report released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The land area of Macau measured 30.5 square km in 2016, and the annual average temperature went down by 0.6 ºC year-on-year to 22.6 ºC. The lowest temperature of the year was 1.6 ºC in January, the coldest January recorded since 1948, and rain with small ice pellets was observed for the first time. Total precipitation was 2,335.6 mm, up by 994.6 mm year-on-year.

With regard to the air quality in 2016, all five monitoring stations in Macau registered an increase in the number of “Moderate” air quality days. The high density residential area in Northern District had the highest number of “Poor” air quality days, at 19, followed by 17 days recorded in both the high density residential area in Taipa and at the ambient monitoring station in Coloane.

The ambient monitoring station in Coloane recorded the highest number of exceedance days for fine suspended particulates (PM2.5) among all monitoring stations, at 7 days. Meanwhile, improvement was shown in the number of exceedance days at the remaining four monitoring stations in the Macau Peninsula and Taipa.

Moreover, 66 days with acid rain were recorded in 2016. Total water consumption was 86,703,000m3 in 2016, up by 2.1 percent year-on-year. Water consumption by the business sector (44,173,000 m3), households (36,976,000 m3) and the government sector (5,553,000 m3) increased by 2.4 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.5 percent respectively year-on-year. The Waste Water Treatment Plants treated an average of 229,521 m3 of waste water per day, up by 18.9 percent year-on-year.

A total of 239,993 tons of domestic waste and 137,949 tons of waste from the business sector was collected in 2016, up by 5 percent and 10.8 percent respectively. The Refuse Incineration Plant treated a total of 503,867 tons of municipal solid waste, up by 1.7 percent year-on-year. Volume of construction waste sent to landfill totaled 3,269 tons, down substantially by 32.4 percent.