GUANGZHOU: Water chiefs have pledged supplies to Hong Kong will be fully guaranteed despite the worsening salt tide and drought currently affecting Guangdong.

Huang Qingliang, vice-director of the Guangdong Department of Water Resources, said that maintaining fresh water for the special administrative region was its first priority.

"The water supply to Hong Kong in terms of both quality and quantity will be unaffected, although the province is suffering from the severe salt tide and drought," he said.

Experts believe the southern Chinese province will suffer with the salt tide and drought until March or even April.

Hong Kong, which is close to Guangdong, introduces more than 80 per cent of its fresh water through the Dongjiang-Shenzhen water supply project.

The project draws its own supplies from a river that is unaffected by the salt tide.

An upgrade of the system, which was first built in 1964 in Dongguan of Guangdong, was completed in June 2003, to enable it to provide up to 1.1 billion cubic metres of water annually to Hong Kong and 873 million cubic metres of water to Shenzhen.

The 4.7 billion yuan (US$587 million) project features safeguards that help to prevent pollutants contaminating supplies.

"Water supplies to Hong Kong are completely ensured because of the project, even though Guangdong also suffered a serious drought and salt tide early last year," Suen Kwok-keung, spokesman of the Hong Kong Water Supplies Department, told China Daily yesterday.

Nearly 800 million cubic metres of water were transported to Hong Kong last year.

"We still have no problem with the water supply to Hong Kong at all this year," Suen said.

The water source in the Dongjiang-Shenzhen system comes from Xinfengjiang Water Reservoir, which is about 50 kilometres away from the area affected by the salt tide in the Dongjiang River, according to Suen.

"As a result, the water supply from Guangdong to Hong Kong will not be affected by the current salt tide in the province," Suen said.

Water levels in Dongjiang, branch of the Pearl River, are still currently high thanks to early water diversion from Guangdong's northern Beijiang River.

"The high water level in Dongjiang River will cause no shortage of water in the months to come and ensure water quantity to Hong Kong," Suen said.

Suen added that Hong Kong also has reserves of about 4.5 million cubic metres of water at present.

Editor: Yan