Macao's daily demand for tap water might reach a record of 200,000 cubic meters later this year, local media reported on Monday.

The Macau Post quoted Oscar Chu Wai Man, deputy general manager of the Macao Water Company, as saying that the highest demand for tap water peaked at 182,229 cubic meters on July 28, 2003.

Chu told the newspaper that the rising demand for tap water in the special administrative region is due to the growing number of hotels, casinos and visitors.

Macao Water is in negotiations with the relevant authorities in Zhuhai, a neighboring mainland city in south China’s Guangdong Province, to build a new water-supply pipeline, Chu said.

Both sides hope to strike an agreement by the end of this year, he added.

Macao Water signed a 25-year water-supply concession agreement with the Zhuhai Water Affairs Administration in 1985.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2005)