An inter-departmental meeting was chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, this morning (July 11) to discuss the follow-up work in relation to lead content in drinking water samples from Kai Ching Estate. The meeting also decided on the way forward in tackling the issue. Representatives attending the inter-departmental meeting came from the Transport and Housing Bureau, the Development Bureau, the Food and Health Bureau, the Housing Department, the Water Supplies Department and the Department of Health.
A press conference was jointly held by the Transport and Housing Bureau, the Development Bureau, the Department of Housing, the Water Supplies Department, the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority in the afternoon to explain the details.
The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, said that the Government attached great importance to the issue, striving to resolve the matter as quickly as possible and provide residents with water safe for consumption. It will at the same time contain health risk and follow up on suspected infringement of the law by the licensed plumber(s) concerned.
The Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, said, "We are very concerned about excessive lead content in the water samples at Kai Ching Estate. The Water Supplies Department will conduct thorough investigation and follow up on the matter seriously. Prosecution will be taken out if non-compliance is found. The department will also follow up on the water works projects recently completed by the licenced plumber concerned and review the approval procedures for water supply to newly completed buildings to see if there are areas of work that can be strengthened. It will work closely with the Housing Department to provide the necessary assistance to the tenants and minimise the inconvenience caused to them as far as possible."
Speaking on the test results of the last batch of 36 water samples, the Director of Housing, Mr Stanley Ying, said that 35 were from residential flats and one from a facility in the common area of the estate. He said 33 samples were below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. Another three, all from residential flats, exceeded the limit, with readings at 10.8, 11.6 and 35.1 respectively.
The Housing Department is contacting the tenants of the households, where the three samples were taken, to inform them of the results. A contact telephone number has been provided to the tenants for enquiries on health-related issues and follow-up.
This morning, the Housing Department provided tenants of Kai Ching Estate with bottled water, 2,000 bottles of 4.5 litre each and 7,000 bottles of 0.8 litre each.
"The distribution of bottled water was generally smooth. We are grateful for tenants' patience and co-operation," Mr Ying said.
The Director of Water Supplies, Mr Enoch Lam, said the Water Supplies Department has set up two temporary water supply points at Kai Ching Estate and is arranging the laying of a temporary water pipe to the ground floor of each block to facilitate collection of water by the residents. The laying works are expected to complete in two or three days. The department has also initiated a series of actions including consulting the Department of Justice on whether criminal prosecution or disciplinary action against the licenced plumber concerned should be taken. It will also follow up on the water works projects recently completed by the licenced plumber in four other housing estates under the Hong Kong Housing Authority, namely Lung Yat Estate in Tuen Mun, Cheung Sha Wan Estate, Shui Chuen O Estate in Sha Tin and Kwai Luen Estate in Kwai Shing Circuit. Water samples and soldering materials from these estates will be taken to test their levels of lead and the results will be announced in due course.
Apart from assisting tenants of Kai Ching Estate, the Housing Department will follow up with and ask the concerned contractor to come up with a practical and pragmatic programme, with due consideration of tenants' situation, to resolve the issue of lead content in soldering materials. We will announce the details once available.
The Head of Surveillance and Epidemiology Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Dr Regina Ching, said that more easily affected groups, namely infants, young children under six years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers may call hotline 2125 1122 from 9am to 9pm daily to make appointments for free blood tests.
According to the Department of Health (DH), from the health perspective, long term exposure to lead, which when accumulated in large amounts in the body, may result in anaemia, increased blood pressure, brain and kidney damage. The WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality has set a provisional guideline value of not more than 10 micrograms per litre for lead, which does not represent significant risk to health for drinking over a lifetime.
The elevated levels of lead content detected in the above-mentioned samples do not represent a significant risk to health unless the water is consumed over extended periods of time. Exposure to this level of lead in drinking water is also unlikely to cause acute toxicity. Nevertheless, the authorities will expedite effort to deal with the problem of lead content in water.
Ends/Saturday, July 11, 2015
Issued at HKT 21:37
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