Hong Kong must raise the value it places on water to tackle runaway consumption, Dutch envoy says

Water use will be the most immediate environmental challenge after climate change for Pearl River Delta cities, with Hongkongers using twice as much per capita as the rest of the world, the Netherlands’ top representative for international water issues says.

For Hong Kong, one of the world’s most intense users, it will require maintaining the quality of water coming out of taps, accounting for leakages in the supply system and investing in more sustainable ways of capturing and reusing water while reducing consumption, Henk Ovink said.

On a recent visit to Hong Kong, the kingdom’s first special envoy for international water affairs said the city needed to raise the value it placed on the natural resource.

“What you pay for your water is actually at the bottom of the list in the world,” he said. “Hong Kong uses twice as much per capita as the rest of the world on average, and tops the list in terms of leakages when it comes to infrastructure.”

According to data from the city’s Water Supplies Department, direct water usage in Hong Kong has risen 17 per cent per person over the past two decades. At 220 litres of water a day in 2014, including the seawater used for toilet flushing, per capita water consumption is double the world average of 110 litres.