ALLEN AU-YEUNG ALLEN.AUYEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 25 August, 2015, 1:47pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 25 August, 2015, 2:02pm
Edmond Ng Yat-long, eight, fetch water from newly installed temporary pipes at Sheung Ching House in Kai Ching Estate on August 17. Photo: May Tse
Two Hongkongers living at public housing estates hit by a lead-in-water scandal are suing a building contractor for money spent on installing their own filters at home, in hopes that it will set a precedent for other affected residents to follow.
Marco Chan and Alice Lee launched the lawsuit to get China State Construction Engineering, the main contractor of Kai Ching Estate in Kowloon City, to foot the bill after the firm agreed to install water filters in the estate for free last week.
Marco Chan was seeking HK$200 for the filter he bought immediately after learning last month that tap water in his estate contained lead exceeding a World Health Organisation guideline of 10 micrograms per litre.
“I bought the filter early on because my family was worried after the government announced results of the water quality test,” Chan said. “China State Construction still hasn’t installed a filter in my home.
“I hope I can recover the money, so other residents who have bought HK$10,000 or HK$20,000 filters can also recover their money.”
Kai Ching Estate was the first public housing estate in Hong Kong to be detected, on July 10, with an excessive amount of lead in its drinking water samples.
The two residents filed their claims at the Small Claims Tribunal in Wan Chai this morning.
“Many residents of Kai Ching Estate had installed filters themselves before China State Construction said it would install the equipment in their homes for free, because they were worried about their drinking water,” Leung Yuen-ting, convenor of the Lead in Drinking Water Concern Group, said as she helped the pair lodge their cases.
“I hope China State Construction will proactively bear the responsibility it needs to bear. It’s not the responsibility of residents.”
She said the two were taking legal action because they tried to demand reimbursement from China State Construction in the middle of last month but the firm only promised to install free filters.
Close to 200 Kai Ching households were caught in a similar situation, Leung estimated.
She also said retailers were selling filters of dubious standards in the estate at the height of the water scare.
With the scandal having dragged on for more than six weeks, occupants of all the affected residential blocks – spreading over 10 estates by now – have to drink bottled water or collect water from outside their homes before the four contractors involved in the scandal get down to installing any filters.
Lee, who was claiming HK$600 for the filter she bought for her family of three, said: “I am still fetching water from the street. I don’t know if I should trust the water from the temporary pipes installed inside the building.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1852375/two-launch-hong-kongs-first-lawsuit-seeking-cost
