The Water Tales of Hong Kong and Singapore: Divergent Approaches to Water Dependency
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Liquid Assets V: The Water Tales of Hong Kong and Singapore: Divergent Approaches to Water Dependency Su Liu Jessica Williams January 2014 About Civic Exchange Civic Exchange is a Hong Kong-based non-profit public policy think tank that was established in 2000. It is an independent organisation that has access to policy makers, officials, businesses, media and NGOs – reaching across sectors and borders. Civic Exchange has solid research experience in areas such as air quality, energy, urban planning, climate change, conservation, water, governance, political development, equal opportunities, poverty and gender. For more information about Civic Exchange, visit www.civic-exchange.org. About the Authors Su Liu is Head of Great China & Water Policy Research of Civic Exchange. Her work in Civic Exchange covers mainly water related policy research and China related project coordination. Su has produced several water policy reports, including; Liquid Assets II, Industrial Relocation in Guangdong Province, Liquid Assets IIIA, Dongjiang Overloaded, Liquid Assets IIIB, A Photographic report of the Dongjiang Expedition and Liquid Assets IV Hong Kong’s Water Resources Management under “One Country, Two Systems”. Su was a former public opinion researcher (Deputy Managing Director of the Gallup Organisation Hong Kong), and a communication strategist (Deputy Managing Director of Wirthlin Worldwide Asia). Jessica Williams grew up and lives in Hong Kong. She completed her MSc in International Relations at Cardiff University and has a BA in law from Exeter University. For her Master’s thesis, Jessica researched and assessed China’s water policies and their international implications. Her research is primarily focused on Asian water security, particularly on China’s water situation and national and international implications this will have. Jessica recently worked with Civic Exchange as a research intern. During her time at Civic Exchange, Jessica focused on the complicated water relationships between Hong Kong and China, and Singapore and Malaysia. She is hoping to continue research into Asian water issues by undertaking a PhD. 2 Preface & Acknowledgements This report represents Civic Exchange’s second attempt this year to examine Hong Kong’s water strategy. By examining the paths and actions that Singapore has taken to address their water scarcity issues, Hong Kong can reflect on its previous and current approaches to water dependency and consider the way forward. In July 2013, we also published a report focusing on Hong Kong’s water resources management under “One Country, Two Systems”. It is believed that Hong Kong should take actions to enhance its water self-reliance, especially as Dongjiang is under growing pressure due to increased demand for water from five other cities in the Pearl River Delta. We hope these reports will inform people in Hong Kong about the challenges we are facing in the water policy domain, and help facilitate the much-needed discussions in the community without further delay. I thank the authors Su Liu and Jessica Williams for completing this research, and Simon Harris for editing this report. DESIGNORM helped to lay out and design the report, and a number of colleagues and collaborators facilitated the production of this report, including Berton Bian, Olivia Chen, Bryan Suen, Michelle Wong, Rae Leung, Simon Ng, and William Leverett. We are also grateful to the Noble Group for their financial support. Yan-Yan Yip Chief Executive Officer December 2013 3 Table of Contents Glossary of Acronyms ................................................................... 5 Executive Summary ....................................................................... 6 1. Introduction .............................................................................9 2. Evolution of Water Policies .................................................... 11 2.1 On the Same Track: Responding to Population growth .........11 2.2 Turning Point: Water Rationing and Solutions in the 1960s ..............................................................................17 2.3 Evolution of water policies ....................................................18 2.4 Water Contracts and Water Relations................................... 26 2.5 Managing Disputes ............................................................... 32 3. Current Water Policies ........................................................... 38 3.1 Policy Bureaux Overseeing Water Resources Management .........................................................................38 3.2 Policy Framework.................................................................. 39 3.3 Actions and implementation .................................................43 3.4 Other Water Saving Initiatives .............................................. 50 4. Discussion & Policy Recommendations .................................. 54 4.1 Singapore’s water success formula ....................................... 54 4.2 The Achilles Heel of Singapore’s Water Ambitions................ 56 4.3 The Hong Kong Water Story ..................................................57 4.4 Opportunities for Hong Kong ................................................64 4.5 Policy Recommendations...................................................... 68 Appendix 1 .................................................................................. 70 Appendix 2 .................................................................................. 71 Appendix 3 .................................................................................. 73 Endnotes ..................................................................................... 74 4 Glossary of Acronyms 3P Approach People, Public and Private approach CPPP Cleaner Production Partnership Programme DJ Allocation Plan Dongjiang Basin Water Resources Allocation Plan DSD HKSAR Government Drainage Services Department EWI Programme Environment and Water Industry Programme HKPC Hong Kong Productivity Council HKSAR Hong Kong Special Administrative Region HKUST Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ITC Innovation and Technology Commission ITF Innovation and Technology Fund kWh/m3 Kilowatt-hour per cubic metre LNG Liquefied Natural Gas mcm Million Cubic Meters MEWR Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources of the Republic of Singapore PRD Pearl River Delta PUB Public Utilities Board (formerly known as the national water agency of the Republic of Singapore) R&D Research and Development RM Malaysian Ringgit RMB Chinese Yuan RO Reverse Osmosis SSEZ Shenzhen Special Economic Zone SANI® Process Sulphate reduction, Autotrophic Denitrification and Nitrification Integration Process TWM HKSAR Government’s Total Water Management WSD HKSAR Government Water Supplies Department 5 Executive Summary Hong Kong relies on Guangdong’s East River (the Dongjiang) for 70- 80 per cent of their fresh water supply. The River is shared with five cities in the Pearl River Delta Region under the Dongjiang Basin Water Resources Allocation Plan. The Plan is set at the maximum usable water resources limit and is unlikely to have surplus capacity in the future. The river is under increasing pressure from industrialisation, urbanisation and population growth, therefore, reductions in the available volume of Dongjiang water are very possible in the not-so- distant future. This could cause tension in the region and pose a direct threat to Hong Kong’s well-being. In the belief that we must prepare for such an eventuality, this report leverages water-sustainability models from elsewhere. Singapore’s handling of its water resources makes a relevant example for Hong Kong as the two ‘coastal cities’ share many geographical and proportional similarities, and Singapore has made great progress towards achieving water self-sufficiency. Examining key factors and how they drive the two cities’ approaches to the issue can provide the keys to a future sustainable water plan for Hong Kong. In the early years, as population-driven water needs grew, both cities responded by increasing their local catchment capacities. However, both cities met severe bottlenecks in the early 1960s when supply shocks and severe droughts forced them into bouts of extreme water rationing, and both needed to find long-term solutions. The year 1965 was a watershed year for both cities. For Hong Kong it marked the start of a one-way approach that has fostered water dependency ever since. For the pragmatic colonial government, the DongShen negotiations were a simple commercial transaction. Far more importantly for Mainland policy makers was the DongShen’s role as a driver of their Eight-word Policy –“long-term planning and full utilisation (長期打算，充分利用)” towards Hong 6 Kong. Solving Hong Kong’s long-term water supply helps safeguard the core need for stability of the Chinese Communist Party. Since the reunification in 1997, both sides have fully embraced water dependency. In contrast, Singapore’s gaining of political independence in 1965 provided a completely different drive away from water dependency. Although receiving cheap water from Johor was convenient and constitutionally guaranteed for 100 years, water could no longer be viewed as a mere commodity. It was an issue of “life-and-death” at a national security level. Hong Kong’s water-affairs are administered under a segmented departmental structure and ultimately overseen by the Financial Secretary. The final call in justifying water policy decisions is purely economic, overshadowing the long-term benefits