The Harbour Area Treatment Scheme is collecting and treating the sewage on both sides of Victoria Harbour. Here you can learn about why the scheme was implemented, its phases and what the polluter pays principle is doing to help improve the water quality of our world renowned harbour.

As the water quality in Victoria Harbour affects many people in Hong Kong, the Government initiated the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme. The scheme coordinates the overall sewage collection on both sides of the harbour, which is no easy task given the size of the catchment area. So implementation has been split into stages, with the first stage beginning operations at the end of 2001.

• Frequently asked questions about the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme
  http://www.cleanharbour.gov.hk/english/g5.html#1

Stage 1 of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme treats 75% of the sewage discharged into Victoria Harbour. The infrastructure includes a 23.6 kilometre-long system of deep underground tunnels, with the capacity to move up to 1.7 million tones of sewage from Kowloon and the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island to Stonecutters Island. The treatment facility at Stonecutters is one of the largest of its type in the world. With Stage 1 fully commissioned in late 2001, the overall harbour water quality has substantially improved, which means that you can enjoy a cleaner harbour.

• More on Stage 1 of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme
  http://www.cleanharbour.gov.hk/english/g3_1_1.html

However, 25% of the sewage entering the harbour is still not adequately treated. After a period of public consultation, the Government developed a two-phase $20 billion programme designed to treat all sewage from the northern and southwestern areas of Hong Kong Island. Under Stage 2A of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme, the preliminary treatment works on the northern, western and southwestern shores of Hong Kong Island will be upgraded. The plan is to construct a tunnel system to move the currently untreated sewage to Stonecutters Island, where the existing chemical treatment process will be expanded and new disinfection facilities added. This stage should be implemented by 2014.

• General information on Stage 2A of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme
  http://www.cleanharbour.gov.hk/english/g1_2.html

In 2010 the Government will review water quality trends, population increases and sewage flow build-up to judge when Stage 2B of the scheme should be implemented.  In the review, we will also take into account public's aspirations for a cleaner harbour and the need to implement the "polluter-pays-principle". This stage will involve the addition of biological treatment at a site near the facilities on Stonecutters Island. The benefits will be a higher level of sewage processing and a further improvement to water quality in the harbour. With the scheme fully implemented, the full operating cost of sewage treatment in the long term will be recovered through sewage charges.

Although sewage treatment is provided as a public service, it involves substantial operating costs. That's why the Government has implemented the polluter pays principle to fund the ongoing operation and maintenance of all sewage treatment in Hong Kong, including the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme. Since 1995 a sewage charge has been in place, through which both domestic households and trades contribute to the costs of treating wastewater. However, the domestic rate is very low, and you are likely to be charged only around $11 per month. This will rise to around $27 per month over the next decade, but at an annual increase of less than 10 cents per day it will be very affordable.

• More on the polluter pays principle
  http://www.dsd.gov.hk/sewage_charges/polluter_pays_principle/index.htm
• More on sewage treatment and charges
  http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/environment/water/sewagetreatment.htm