Would you wash your car or flush your toilet with recycled waste water? Hong Kong government proposes new solution to city’s intense water use
- Development Bureau and Water Supplies Department launch public consultation on using reclaimed water and grey water
- Government’s Total Water Management Strategy wants to ‘ensure water security and sustainable development in Hong Kong’
Hong Kong residents could soon be flushing their toilets, washing their cars and irrigating their gardens with their own waste water, depending on the results of a public consultation.
The consultation – which the Development Bureau and Water Supplies Department began on Friday – proposes using reclaimed water, treated grey water and harvested rain water for flushing and non-potable uses, such as landscape irrigation, street cleaning, water features and car washing.
Reclaimed water is water which has been converted from treated sewage effluent, and grey water refers to used water discharged from baths, lavatory basins, wash basins and sinks.
The new proposal is part of the Total Water Management Strategy that the government suggested 10 years ago, to “ensure water security and sustainable development in Hong Kong in the face of climate change”, the authorities said.
Hong Kong is one of the world’s most intense water users. 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.