Hotel suspected of discharging greasy water into stormwater pipes

A hotel near Praça de Ferreira do Amaral has allegedly discharged greasy wastewater into the rainwater pipe network, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) disclosed yesterday.

However, the bureau did not reveal the name of the hotel.

Earlier, when the bureau conducted regular pipeline inspections with a surveillance camera near the location, it detected an accumulation of greasy waste in a section of a rainwater pipeline. Preliminary investigations pointed to a nearby hotel releasing the wastewater into the pipeline.

As it included partner bureaus for follow-up, the bureau also pressed charges against hotel management and requested the grease be cleared. About 4 tons of grease was removed from the pipeline.

The bureau has called on the public to avoid discharging wastewater or foreign objects into rain waterspouts or pipelines to ensure their reliability against heavy rainfall.

Since a tropical cyclone is edging towards Macau, the bureau has also commenced a special pipeline inspection task, which has so far covered systems in the Inner Harbour, San Kio and Toi-San districts, as well as Praça de Ferreira do Amaral. The bureau is also closely monitoring the operations of rainwater pumping stations to ensure their capacities. The underground water storage near Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança in Taipa has also been cleared to cope with possible heavy rainfall and extreme weather conditions.

When similar weather conditions exist, the bureau’s workforce will be on stand-by and, when necessary, remotely control the operations of the pumping stations to react in real-time to changing conditions. AL