It is quite unimaginable that Hong Kong continues to struggle with basic necessities such as water. However, that is the case, at least when it comes to the government.
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Ten years ago, opposition lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan found excessive levels of lead in drinking water that was later discovered to have affected 11 public housing estates, involving 29,000 households. That led to an independent, judge-led inquiry in 2016. The investigation yielded 17 recommendations, including for the water authority to decide on and uphold a robust licensing regime for those responsible for plumbing installations.
Most damning of all was that the Water Supplies Department was slammed for having an inadequate understanding of the World Health Organization guidelines that it had adopted in 1994. For more than a decade, it did not fully comprehend the standards which it was supposed to monitor and uphold.
Questions over the city’s water supply arose again in May this year. This time, there were no longer any opposition lawmakers to uncover it. Instead, residents of Queens Hill Estate in Fanling found mysterious black particles, which turned out to be bitumen and resin, in their tap water and reported it. The fiasco of the government’s handling of the crisis that followed is inexcusable, especially after what happened in 2015 and the investigation that followed.
The Water Supplies Department clearly did not learn lessons from the 2015 incident. At the core of such incidents is credibility and public trust. Its handling of such crises has been so far off the mark that it raises questions about whether bureaucrats fully understand their jobs and responsibilities.
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Contract ‘partially terminated’ for mainland supplier of Hong Kong civil service water
Contract ‘partially terminated’ for mainland supplier of Hong Kong civil service water
This month, the water issue returned – in the form of suspected procurement fraud. This came to light after the government announced it had “partially terminated” a bottled water supply contract with Xin Ding Xin Trade Co Ltd. The HK$52.9 million (US$6.8 million) contract covered the supply of “XinLe” bottled water made by Robust (Guangdong) Drinking Water’s Guangzhou branch. Investigations showed the local contracted firm had no business dealings with the Guangzhou-based company.
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