Sewage Treatment & Charges

Sewage is something that every human settlement must deal with: we treat it lightly at our peril, we put ourselves at risk of water-borne diseases outbreak. The responsible handling of sewage is a big factor in maintaining safe and healthy communities, and everybody has a role to play.

Sewage Treatment in Hong Kong

At present, over 94% of the population is served by the public sewerage system, with a sewerage network of over 1,900 kilometres and over 330 sewage treatment facilities collecting and treating around 2.8 million cubic metres sewage per day.

Sewerage Master Plans

The Government has devised Sewerage Master Plans (SMPs) to collect sewage from different catchment areas of the whole territory and transport it to sewage treatment facilities for treatment before discharge. The entire territory has been divided into 16 areas, and SMPs have been produced for all of them. The recommendations of these SMPs are being implemented progressively to cater for the present and future development needs of Hong Kong. These SMPs will be reviewed in the light of population increase and district development and proposals for upgrading works are being pursued on a priority basis.

Harbour Area Treatment Scheme

The Government implemented the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS), for handling the sewage generated from both sides of Victoria Harbour. Through a large-scale deep sewage tunnel collection system, the HATS collects sewage from both sides of Victoria Harbour and transports it to the Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works for centralised treatment and disinfection before discharge. Spanning over 20 years, the HATS project was implemented in two stages and is the largest sewage treatment infrastructure project in Hong Kong's history. Since the full commissioning of HATS in December 2015, the water quality of the Victoria Harbour has been enhanced.

Sewage Services Charging Scheme

The Sewage Services Charging Scheme (the charging scheme) was introduced to recover the operating and maintenance costs of sewage services. It also implements the polluter pays principle to facilitate long-term sustainability of our environment. 

There are two types of charges under the charging scheme -

• Sewage Charge (SC) aims to recover the cost of collecting and treating wastewater at or below domestic strength; and
• Trade Effluent Surcharge (TES) aims to recover the additional cost of treating effluents of strength stronger than domestic sewage.

Sewage Charge

SC is levied on all water users whose premises are connected to public sewers. The amount is calculated according to a prescribed unit rate and the volume of water supplied to the premises (other than that supplied specifically for flushing purposes). Domestic consumers receive an exemption of the first 12 cubic metres of water supplied for every four-month period.

From 1 April 2017 onwards, the SC rate is $2.92 per cubic metre of water supplied.

Trade Effluent Surcharge

TES is the additional charge on top of SC, applying to 27 trades, for the cost incurred in treating effluents of strength typically stronger than domestic sewage. Members of the same trades are subject to trade-specific TES rates, which are based on the respective generic Chemical Oxygen Demand values for each trade. Individual members of a trade are entitled to a lower TES rate if they can, through a reassessment process, demonstrate that the strength of the effluent they discharge is weaker than that prescribed.

Payment Methods

Water Supplies Department has included SC and TES in the demand notes for water charges. The combined demand notes can be settled through -

• Autopay
• Automatic Teller Machine
• PPS
• Faster Payment System (FPS)
• Internet Banking
• Phone Banking
• e-Cheque / e-Cashier’s Order
• By Post
• In Person

A surcharge that equals to 5% of the amount overdue may be imposed on accounts that are not paid on time.  Subsequent to the issue of reminder bills, the Water Authority may disconnect the water supply to the premises with default payment without prior notice.  A surcharge that equal to 10% of the amount overdue may be imposed on top of the outstanding amount six months after the original due date of the bill.

Enquiries

Enquires on matters relating to the Sewage Services Charging Scheme can be made to the Drainage Authority at :

Sewage Services Branch,
Drainage Services Tower,
8 Ying Wa Street,
Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon
Telephone: 2834 9432
Fax: 3104 6433
Email: customer_services@dsd.gov.hk

Enquires may also be made by downloading application forms and returning them to the Drainage Authority. Enquiries not relating to sewage services charges on the demand notes should be made to the Water Authority at 2824 5000.