According to several experts, Macau could benefit from the principles of the sponge cities to take over the principles of the sponge cities
Macau Business | March 2025 | Special report | Water: the typical asset
For those who have never experienced a lack of drinking water, it can be difficult to imagine what it means to turn on a tap and find it dry. Signs that drought can affect every part of the world are becoming increasingly clear.
Take the case of Lake Poyang, China's largest freshwater lake.
Since 2022, a longer drought has drastically reduced its size and forced the local farmers – accustomed to a plenty of water supply – to wear water in buckets.
China was one of the first countries in which the challenges of the water shortage recognized, which led to the birth of the Sponge City concept in the early 2000s that were developed by Chinese researchers.
In 2014, the central government took over the idea as a national policy and initially described 16 pilot sponge cities, with another 14 added in 2016. Zhuhai is on the list – Macau is not.
In 2020, Chui Sai Peng, member of the legislative assembly, proposed that the government introduced the sponge city concept into urban planning in order to reduce the street flood caused by heavy rainfall. However, the proposal was not accepted.
“In view of the small and particularly exposed surroundings of Macaus, I think that it is not only an ideal test reason for the takeover of some of the principles associated with sponge cities, but could also benefit from this approach to alleviate floods and contribute to a more resistant area.” Macau business was told by André Antunes, an expert for microbiological marine and extreme environments.
“This is one of the latest research instructions that we have just explored at the Institute for Science and Environment (ISE) of the University of Saint Joseph (USJ),” added the acting dean of the ISE.
Professor Antunes' colleague at ISE, Karen Tagulao, is just as enthusiastic about the idea: “I support the conversion from Macau to a sponge city, mainly because of the urgent challenges in flood control.”
The sponge city approach, she explains to Macau businessemphasizes natural -based solutions such as rain gardens, green roofs and permeable surfaces that “can effectively tackle urban floods and offer additional ecosystem services”.
“This is an idea that I would like to research and test in Macau, since it is not only for flood protection, but also as a means of improving the city's water management strategies and the use of rainwater as a resource,” summarizes Karen Tagulao.
Professor Nian She, Director of the Smart Utility Research Institute at the Tsinghua University Innovation Center in Zhuhai, is well aware of How the Concept Could Benefit the Msar: “Macau, Bordered by the Sea Sides and Hills on the West and Northwest, Faces Significant Flooding Challenges. Lower Terrain is Susceptible to Waterlogging, Exacerbated by Flash Flooding from the Hills and Incredibly Intense, Short Duration Reflection in connection with climate change.
“A sponge City approach offers an inexpensive solution. With natural-based solutions, this strategy is used by characteristics such as rain gardens, bioswales, planters, green roofs and permeable paving for parking spaces and pedestrian areas of the director of the Smart Sponge City Planning Institute at the Zhuhua Innovation Center, which the Smart Sponge City Planning and Hob, in the Zhuhai Innovation Center, the roofs of Greens and the permeable paving of the building research institute in the smart sponge city planning and the bustbost in the Zhuhai innovation, which used fall floods.
“The key to reducing floods is the delay and shift of the fluid tips instead of simply saving water. This approach integrates green spaces for both aesthetics and drainage, uses hard surfaces for several functions and reduces the construction costs compared to traditional methods,” adds Nian Shejiang, which technically responsible for the design and construction of sponges in Zhiang, in Zhuh, Zhuh -Studien, in quirks, in quarries.
The maritime and the water authority told about this topic Macau business: “No relevant information is currently available.”
“This approach integrates green spaces for both aesthetics and drainage, uses hard surfaces for several functions and reduces the construction costs compared to conventional methods – Nian SHE
The challenge remains
One of the leading experts in China in sponge cities, Nian She, recognizes the difficulties in implementing the concept: “The lack of clear maintenance regulations (responsibility and financing) is an important problem, as is the feasibility of natural solutions in all areas.”
A lack of experts who “hinder the implementation” in the principles of the Sponge City admits to the experts who identifies a third challenge: “The aesthetic attraction of some characteristics such as rain gardens and bioswales can be exposed to public resistance.”
Karen Tagulao from USJ has a similar view: “While the structure of the sponge city was well examined by its effectiveness in the control of fall floods by delaying the water flow, there are still questions about its potential to serve as an alternative water supply system.”
Professor Tagulao explains that “one of the main obstacles for the use of rainwater as an additional urban water resource is the quality of the water collected. Rainwater often carries pollutants, including impurities from urban drainage.”
One example is heavy metals of traffic and road sediments that accumulate on streets. While studies have shown that the infrastructure of the Sponge City can effectively remove some of these pollutants, “only limited examinations for combating more complex contaminants such as microplastics and pathogens that can be mobilized in heavy rain or urban flood events will be mobilized.”
In addition to the challenges that emphasized professors who emphasized them and Tagulao, another factor has hindered the development of some cities in Beijing's original list: Despite considerable state financing, some local authorities have redirected the assigned funds to other projects.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development later reported that some cities “had inadequate knowledge, inadequate understanding and unsystematic implementation of the sponge stage”.
This official explanation was followed by the devastating floods of 2021 in Zhenghou, the provincial capital Henan, who demanded 398 lives. Zhengzhou was one of the pilot cities with a planned investment of 53.58 billion Yuan (7.4 billion US dollars).
Another report by the State Council, which was published the following year, showed that “the funds were wrong. Only 32 percent of the 19.6 billion Yuan that were invested, after an investigation by the Associated Press news agency, went to what the government defined as Sponge City concepts”.
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