Macau Yearbook 2013 - Macao Yearbook

Geography, Environment and Populationand one on Taipa island. They conduct round-the-clock monitoring of ambient noise; road trafficnoise; and noise from the mixed industrial, commercial and residential zones, by means of anautomated network. Data on their readings are published monthly on the Environmental ProtectionBureau’s website.Water Quality and Wastewater TreatmentWater QualitySituated at the mouth of the Pearl River, Macao occupies a peninsula and nearby islands facingLingdingyang to the east and the South China Sea to the south; there is a wide expanse of water.Water exchanges resulting from tidal flows dilute pollutants entering the area. The Inner Harbourto the west of Macao is a favourite berthing place for Zhuhai and Macao fishing boats. The sluiceof the Zhuhai Qianshan River lies upstream of the Inner Harbour channel, and when this is closedthe area is partially blocked off. The poor exchange of its waters with the sea results in conditionsin which pollutants can accumulate. When the sluice is open, Macao’s water quality is determinedby the quality of the water in the Qianshan River. Pollutants that have accumulated will then flowto neighbouring waters.In 2012, the Health Bureau continued an inshore waters quality monitoring scheme. The MacaoPublic Health Laboratory of the Health Bureau was responsible for sample collection and inspection,and result analysis and evaluation.During 2012, the monitoring scheme maintained 12 monitoring stations and successfullyconducted eight water sample collections, obtaining a total of 65 water samples.As for monitoring of red tides, the Health Bureau has initiated the red tide outbreak samplingsystem twice during the year, in which four water samples were collected with the help of theMaritime Administration. The outbreaks of red tide were confirmed after inspection of the samplescollected.According to the Water Quality Monitoring and Evaluation Report of Macao Waters 2012, theoverall pollution level of the individual indicators increased 12 percent over the previous year,the two key factors in pollution were inorganic nitrogen and activated phosphorus. Phosphoruscompounds remained as the nutrients affecting planktonic algae outbreaks in Macao’s inshorewaters which still suffered from serious eutrophication. In October, there were red tide outbreaksin Cheok Van and Hac Sa waters, in which the dominant species was Cochlodiniumgeminatum.Monitored waters showed serious signs of non-metal pollution, while metal pollution remained atrelatively low levels. Inner Harbour remained as the most seriously polluted waters which sufferedfrom serious eutrophication. Compared with 2011, the overall water quality of Macao’s inshorewaters became worse, due to more serious metal pollution. However, there was no sign of returningfor the worsening trend of water pollution recorded in recent years.Water Quality Monitoring NetworkThe two water quality monitoring stations at Ilha Verde Dockyard and the Cotai Nature Reservesconduct round-the-clock monitoring of water quality.377