water and megacities
Hongkong
Hong kong is a largerly self-governing territory of the people's republic of China. Hong Kong is a global metropolis and international financial centre with a highly developed capitalist economy.
As recently as 1995, all of the factories in Hong Kong dumped their detergents, toxic chemicals, and waste water into the territory's harbor. This waste has corroded pipes and dribbled toxic metals into the harbor. This has caused serious water pollution in the Hong Kong harbor. Environmental legislation was introduced in 1988; however, enforcement of this legislation never took place. Now a private group, Enviropeace Ltd., is trying to have these factories treat their chemical waste in a processing plant.
The government has shown its commitment to cleaning up the water pollution in Hong Kong by passing this legislation. Enviropeace is a private firm which must be paid to treat this factory waste. Hong Kong must now deal with the question of who will pay for this treatment. The government has proposed a uniform tariff in the past on all domestic waste and chemical imports to pay for waste disposal. This program was defeated by a conglomeration of chemical companies. Currently the Hong Kong taxpayer must pay for the waste treatment plant.
In the past, Hong Kong had pursued economic growth at any cost, including environmental. Now that its environmental problem has gotten so bad, the government has begun a serious effort to clean it up. The government is currently concentrating its efforts on cleaning up water pollution. The water pollution has become so bad that trade into the harbor could be inhibited. The government in Hong Kong has realized the value of its water in and around the harbor and is currently trying to clean it up.
Water and Megacities
A six point integrated water management strategy for Cities
- Local authorities need to carry out city wide water audits.
- Policies need to be introduced to stop the pollution of water sources and to protect watersheds.
- Local authorities need to use new technologies to minimise the amount of water lost through leakages and illegal connections.
- Socially sensitive pricing policies needs to be introduced which neither protect nor penalise the poor but remove any opportunity for prolifigate use.
- City authorities must involve industrialists and community groups to design innovative ways of recycling wastewater.
- Each city needs to set up an integrated strategy for demand management, including launching city wide campaigns to change people’s attitudes towards
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