Environmental statistics 2015

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the total land area of Macao measured 30.4 km2 in 2015. The population density went up from 20,500 persons per km2 in 2014 to 21,100 persons per km2. The annual mean air temperature rose by 0.5 ºC year-on-year to 23.2 ºC, the highest mean temperature since records began in 1952. Total precipitation was 1,341 mm, down by 242.8 mm year-on-year. Total duration of sunshine or insolation time was 1,696.9 hours, down by 174.2 hours year-on-year. As regards air quality, the four monitoring stations in Macao Peninsula and Taipa recorded year-on-year increase in the number of "Good" air quality days. The air quality at the roadside of Rua do Campo showed notable improvement, with the number of "Good" air quality days (221) rising by 87 year-on-year and that of "Poor" air quality days falling by 34. However, the number of "Poor" air quality days recorded in Taipa and Coloane increased year-on-year. There was only one day of "Very Poor" air quality in 2015, recorded in January in the high density residential area in Northern District. The four monitoring stations in Macao Peninsula and Taipa recorded year-on-year decrease in the number of exceedance days for fine suspended particulates (PM2.5); the number of exceedance days recorded at the monitoring station at the roadside of Rua do Campo reduced significantly by 30 days to 17 days. Meanwhile, acid rain was recorded on 66 days in 2015, down by 11 days year-on-year. Total water consumption was 84,939,000 m3 in 2015, up by 1.7% year-on-year. Water consumption by households (36,324,000 m3) and the business sector (43,145,000 m3) increased by 3.0% and 1.0% respectively, while that by the government sector (5,470,000 m3) decreased by 1.0%. The Waste Water Treatment Plants treated an average of 192,965 m3 of waste water per day, down by 11.0% year-on-year. A total of 229,004 tonnes of domestic waste and 124,537 tonnes of waste from the business sector were collected in 2015, up by 4.6% and 1.3% respectively. The Refuse Incineration Plant treated a total of 509,111 tonnes of solid waste, up by 11.3% year-on-year; volume of renovation and construction waste sent to landfill totalled 4,835 tonnes, up by 10.5%.