Work to replace non-compliant pipes in housing estates likely to take months, if not longer
JASMINE.SIU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 12 May, 2016, 3:15pm
Kai Ching Estate residents collect fresh water at a temporary distribution point. Photo: May Tse
Finding out she was finally being allotted a public housing unit following draw after draw, in a city with a waiting list of 290,000 applicants, was cause for great joy for Fanny Ng Suet-fan.
But her celebrations were quickly marred when Hong Kong’s lead-in-water scandal erupted last year, and it emerged that there was poisonous lead in the flat’s drinking water.
“New estate, new building, of course we wanted it,” Ng said of her decision to move into Kai Ching Estate in Kowloon City. “Who knew there would be lead in our water?”
The 45-year-old garment worker now runs her taps before use every morning, and drinks only filtered water oozing out through contractor-provided filters.
“We use lead water to shower, brush teeth and wash our face – there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Ng.
“I waited 10 years before I was housed here ... Where else can I go? Another estate might just have the same problem.”
Ng’s household was among the 29,000 affected when tests run by the Democratic Party last July revealed four samples from Kai Ching Estate had lead levels exceeding the World Health Organisation’s provisional guideline value of not more than 10 micrograms per litre.
Temporary water points were installed in affected estates after unsafe lead levels were detected. Photo: Sam Tsang
Jay Li Ting-fung, the estate’s district councillor assistant, recalled how his office phones rang off the hook the day after the findings were announced.
“I stayed at my seat for eight hours straight,” said Li, who later joined the Drinking Water Victims Alliance. “Many were calling to ask how the government would respond because the information dissemination process was slow.”
I stayed at my seat for eight hours straight.
DISTRICT COUNCILLOR ASSISTANT JAY LI
From Kai Ching Estate, the revelations snowballed into a crisis as further tests revealed elevated lead levels in 10 more estates, with the cause being leaded solder used in joining fresh water pipes.
The major concern was the unsafe levels of lead, to which chronic exposure can cause anaemia, constipation, headaches, joint pains and fatigue.
The government swung into action, switching water sources for the affected estates, distributing bottled water, providing standpipes and offering blood tests to vulnerable groups. It then went on to establish an inquiry to investigate the scandal. Contractors, meanwhile, were required to install filters and temporary water points for affected residents.
The Hospital Authority has, since July, screened the blood lead levels of 5,652 affected residents, of which 165 showed borderline raised levels in their first blood test. Among them, 133 have seen their results return to normal.
Housewife Kelly Lam, 40, of Shek Kip Mei Estate, was relieved that her infant daughter’s tests results showed less than 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter.
She said her family initially hoarded bottled water as if it was liquid gold.
In the end our flat was filled with [bottled] water.
HOUSEWIFE KELLY LAM
“We were using a lot of water because we weren’t used to it,” she said. “We didn’t know how we should be using the water, and we had to queue for it, so in the end our flat was filled with [bottled] water.”
She has since removed her unit’s water filter – because it took up space – and limited the family’s use to just two six-litre bottles a day.
At Un Chau Estate, five standpipes were installed by the Water Supplies Department to provide fresh water to residents of the five affected blocks, one of which had a record-high level of lead concentration at 153 micrograms per litre.
More recently, the four contractors involved began replacing non-compliant pipes in the common areas of the affected estates on March 14, after trial rectification works were carried in four of them.
The construction is expected to take some months as contractors will first have to replace non-compliant pipes within common areas before they change those inside units.
Bottled water became an important resource for affected residents. Photo: Nora Tam
Progress also varies from estate to estate, depending on the design of the blocks involved, weather conditions and allocation of resources.
For instance, Kai Ching Estate will need 13 months to complete works in the common areas of each block, while Kwai Luen Estate will see this completed by the end of this year.
Questions have been raised over the scale of the rectification works inside units, as some residents are worried that they may have to dismantle cabinets without knowing which party will bear the costs for reinstallation and breakage.
Cheung Yiu-pan, a district councillor for Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate, said the government may consider running water tests across all units to gauge the latest level of contamination before it decides whether the next stage should be mandatory.
For now, affected residents continue to put up with temporary suspensions of water supplies, the mounting of gondolas and the dismantling of laundry racks.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1944041/we-use-lead-water-shower-tainted-water-nightmare
