Local people suffered acute water shortages, and groundwater over-exploitation was inevitable. The city was filled with over 2,000 wells.

"People had no choice but to drink muddy and polluted well water," Lee said.

The local government had to impose a limit on water use starting from 1955 and several more limits during the following decade.

Suffering from extended water shortages, Macao proposed to work with the mainland to deal with the crisis. Diverting water from the neighboring mainland city of Zhuhai was an initial attempt to address its water scarcity.

In 1959, two reservoirs were built in Zhuhai under cooperation between Macao and the Guangdong provincial government. The reservoirs began to deliver water to Macao residents the following May.