Residents raid fire hydrants in search of water

Macau experienced a water crisis yesterday which saw much of the city left without a stable water supply, even as the electricity provision was gradually restored. Due to the lack of an immediate response from authorities, residents were seen pumping water from fire hydrants, even though doing so is illegal.

Local residents hurried to various public water sources across the city to extract as much water as possible.

They were first seen queuing up on some streets on Wednesday night, buckets in hand, appropriating water. By yesterday afternoon, water raiding had become endemic on the streets and broadly discussed on social media.

A group of people in the Costa area accessed water through a Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau garden hose which is normally used for watering plants. Others were spotted showering on the street.

Macao Water Co., the city’s public water provider, issued a statement yesterday with updates to the state of water supply in the territory.

The company said that the city is facing “the worst situation since the establishment [of Macao Water], leading to the suspension of three water treatment plants yesterday.”

The public has been advised not to use fire hydrants or firefighting hoses for their water supply as “it could have negative effects on the water pressure” and the company could not guarantee the “quality of the water” for drinking purposes.

A source familiar with the matter told the Times yesterday “the water supply is very poor.” The source advised keeping water at home but “beware of consumption without boiling [first]; the water may be contaminated.”

Some supermarkets and convenience stores were out of stock of bottled water yesterday morning. Empty shelves were an astonishing sight for many residents, who had not experienced such a shortage within their lifetimes.

The Times attempted to contact private water suppliers in the territory but repeated calls went unanswered.

Subsequently, there were reports that individuals were hoarding water bottles and selling them at overpriced rates. Some reports said two bottles of water were selling for a combined price of MOP150.

Macao Water said its staff have been carrying out remedial works since Typhoon Hato subsided to try to fix the “serious damage” to the pump room and coagulation system of the Ilha Verde Water Treatment Plant. Late yesterday afternoon, the provider said it would seek to restore the water supply of the plant by the end of the day.

The company also notified the public that it had set up six temporary supply points for water distribution, however most of them were located in close proximity to Avenida de Horta e Costa.

In addition, two temporary water supply vehicles were tracking a circular route around the peninsula to serve public demand.

The company did not specify any emergency service provisions for Taipa or Coloane.

For the immediate future, Macao Water is asking the public to conserve as much accessible water as possible. The company urged the public to “reduce unnecessary use of water – for example, landscaping – in order to maintain the water pressure.”

Part of the reason for the disruption of water services was a lack of electricity available to the water treatment plants in Macau, caused by the city-wide blackout on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the electricity supply was gradually restored to the city, but 30,000 CEM customers, located in areas severely damaged by the flooding, were still without power. In the early hours of this morning, 20,000 customers were without power.

“CEM is making every effort to repair the power facilities damaged by the floods and strives to restore the power supply to all affected customers today,” the company wrote in a statement yesterday.

Almost the entire city was plunged into temporary darkness around midday on Wednesday as a power cable supplying electricity from Zhuhai was ruptured and storm clouds casted a shadow over Macau. The city relies on the neighboring mainland city for as much as 80 percent of its total power supply.

Due to the cut in electricity supply, there were more than 60 reports of people being trapped inside elevators, according to the coordinator of the Civil Protection Operation Center. Of these, about one-third were resolved by building management services and 18 cases were resolved by emergency services.

At a government press conference yesterday evening, there was no update on the other cases, meaning some people might have been trapped in elevators for as long as eight hours. No further information has been provided on the situation.